Michael Ondaatje is the author of many well-known works of fiction, including Anil’s Ghost, The English Patient, In the Skin of a Lion, Coming Through Slaughter, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, and, most recently Divisadero. Although best known as a novelist, he is also a poet (The Cinnamon Peeler, Handwriting, and There’s a Trick With a Knife I’m Learning to Do) and a memoirist (Running in the Family). He is the recipient of many honors and awards, including a Booker Prize, the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, the Prix Medicis, the Governor General’s Award, and the Giller Prize. A Sri-Lankan native of Dutch/Indian ancestry, Ondaatje currently lives in Canada, where he is Professor of English at York University in Toronto.