About Yann Martel

Canadian Author

Quick Facts

Nationality: Canadian
Birth Year: 1963
Notable Works: Life of Pi, Beatrice and Virgil, The High Mountains of Portugal
Literary Period: Contemporary
Genres: Novel, Non fiction, Historical Fiction, Short Story
Cite

Yann Martel, CC, is a contemporary Canadian novelist, and short story writer. He became an internationally recognized author after his novel Life of Pi, which earned him the prestigious Man Booker.

Life Facts

  • Yann Martel was born on June 25, 1963, in Salamanca, Spain
  • Martel lived in countries like Spain, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and Canada
  • He is a novelist and a short story writer who began writing in 1993
  • His internationally acclaimed book Life of Pi was published in 2001 and made into a film in 2012
  • He has received about eleven notable awards including the prestigious Man Booker prize in 2002

Interesting Facts

  • Yann Martel’s parents were graduate students in Spain when he was born
  • He travelled widely as an adult and spent time in Iran, Turkey and India
  • Yann Martel is a francophone who writes in English
  • Martel wanted to be a politician, and then an anthropologist before he turned into a writer
  • He cried while reading Alphonse Daudet’s Le Petit Chose

Famous Books by Yann Martel

Life of Pi – is undeniably the best book by Yann Martel. Published in 2001, it earned him the Man Booker Prize and international recognition as an author. It is a fact-mixed fictional story of how a young boy and a Bengal Tiger survived the shipwreck in a lifeboat together. Primarily, it deals with faith and survival.

The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios and Other Stories – is the first book by Yann Martel published in 1993. It is a collection of four short stories, that deal with the severity of afflictions. They are written in an original and light-hearted writing style based on his experience and experimentation.

101 Letters to a Prime Minister – published in 2012, is a collection of 101 letters sent by Martel to Stephen Harper, former prime minister of Canada. Each letter carries Martel’s insightful commentary on a book, its author, and why one must read it. In the words of Martel, it was his “political bullets and grenades” to make the PM understands the significance of Arts and Literature in shaping civilization.

Beatrice and Virgil – is an allegorical tale about The Holocaust. In this embedded narrative story, the author speaks about a novelist who receives a manuscript from a taxidermist. It turns out to be the story of two taxidermy animals—Beatrice, a donkey, and Virgil, a monkey, victims of The Holocaust.

We Ate The Children Last – is an impressive satirical short fiction by Yann Martel published in 2004. It deals with how people are impulsive to accept new technological advances and innovations without thinking about possible consequences. In the story, certain situation details how unnecessary complex decisions are made instead of simple ones. Also, the people who know the cause and effects of it seem to be indifferent to their actions.

Early Life

Yann Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1963 to Nicole Perron and Émile Martel. Since his parents worked in the Canadian foreign service, the family was moving to different places, including San José, Costa Rica, Paris, France, Madrid, Spain, Ottawa, and Ontarioas, as he grew up. In addition to these places, he has travelled through Mexico, South America, Iran, Turkey, and India. He has completed his final two years of high school at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario. For his undergraduate degree, he chose philosophy at Trent University, Ontario.
Martel has done quite a few odd jobs, including parking lot attendant, dishwasher, security guard, etc. He resorts to writing only after trying all the possible jobs. Despite having started writing at the university, he published his first work only in 1993. In his words, his earlier works were “blighted by immaturity and dreadful.”

Writing Career

Yann Martel started his writing career with the publication of The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, and Other Stories, published in 1993. Even though his debut work did not make an influential landing, he made an impressive entry by dealing with strong themes such as the art of storytelling, ailment, grief and suffering, music, war and its impacts, etc. Following his first book, his second book, Self, published in 1996, did not make much of a difference. Yet, it is evident that he has dealt with the impact of illness, suffering, and loss effectively in his writings.
Notwithstanding his failed attempts to create an impact through his first two books, he became a best-selling author with his third novel ‘Life of Pi.’ It earned him the Booker Prize as well as recognition as an international author. As a recognized author, he published We Ate the Children Last, a collection of short stories, in 2004. In 2010, he published the allegorical novel Beatrice and Virgil, which bagged him money and recognition, alluding to the protagonists of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
In the suit of  Life of Pi, he stirred the masses with his 101 Letters to a Prime Minister: The Complete Letters to Stephen Harper, published in 2012. In this work, he speaks about 101 works of writers from all time and explains why one must read them. His most recent work, The High Mountains of Portugal, published in 2016, deals with the importance of faith in life.

Influence from other writers

Martel has mentioned a handful of writers as his influencers, which include Dante Alighieri, Franz Kafka, Joseph Conrad, Nikolai Gogol, Sinclair Lewis, Moacyr Scliar, Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy, Alphonse Daudet, J.M. Coetzee, and Knut Hamsun. It is visible in his published works.

However, he singled out Dante’s Divine Comedy as the most impressive book he has ever read. In addition, he recalls Le Petit Chose by Alphonse Daudet as the most memorable book of his childhood that was heartbreaking and moved him to tears.

Literature by Yann Martel

Explore literature by Yann Martel below, created by the team at Book Analysis.

Life of Pi