Yann Martel

Yann Martel (born June 25, 1963 in Salamanca, Spain) is a Canadian author best known for the Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.

As an adult, Martel has travelled the globe, spending time in Iran, Turkey and India. After studying philosophy at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, at age 27 he embarked on a writing career. Living in or visiting many cultures influenced his writing, providing the rich cultural background of Life of Pi. To write the novel, Martel spent six months in India visiting mosques, temples, churches and zoos, and then an entire year reading religious texts and castaway stories. After the research, the actual writing required two more years.

Life of Pi was chosen for the 2003 edition of CBC Radio's Canada Reads competition, where it was championed by author Nancy Lee. In addition, its French translation, Histoire de Pi, was included in the French version of the competition, Le combat des livres, in 2004, championed by singer Louise Forestier.

Martel spent a year in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from September 2003 as the public library's writer-in-residence. He moved to Montreal, Quebec and has recently collaborated with Canadian composer Omar Daniel, composer-in-residence at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, on a piece for piano, string quartet and bass. The composition, You Are Where You Are, is based on text written by Martel, which includes parts of cellphone conversations taken from moments in an ordinary day.
In November 2005, the University of Saskatchewan announced that Martel will return and spend a year in the university's English department as a scholar-in-residence, where he is slated to stay until November 2007.

His upcoming book will deal with the Holocaust: it will take place between two talking animals on a man's dress shirt. He is also working on a project entitled 'What is Stephen Harper Reading,' where he is sending the Prime Minister of Canada one book every two weeks that portrays 'stillness' with an accompanying explanatory note. He is posting his letters, book selection and any responses to the website devoted to the project.

Yann Martel currently lives in Saskatoon.