Michael Ondaatje is one of the world’s foremost writers. In his transcendent novel The English Patient—later made into the Academy Award-winning film—he explores the stories of people history fails to reveal, intersecting four diverse lives at the end of World War II.  He is the author of four collections of poetry including The Cinnamon Peeler and most recently, Handwriting. His works of fiction include Anil's Ghost, The English Patient, In the Skin of the Lion, Coming Through Slaughter, and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. In 2000, Ondaatje was awarded the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, the Prix Medicis, the Governor General’s Award, and the Giller Prize.