Divisadero ... Micheal ONDAATJE

MICHAEL ONDAATJE writes with such grace, elegance and seductiveness that it would be both a shame and a surprise if he does not get shortlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize for Fiction. A new novel by the poet and novelist is always cause for celebration. His much-anticipated new novel, Divisadero (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007), looks at truth and its consequences, and how these can have devastating impacts on our lives, and the bonds that keep people together. It has been seven long years since his last novel, the Giller Prize-winning Anil’s Ghost, was published in 2002. The question is, Will Mr Ondaatje be the next writer to follow in the footsteps of Peter Carey, J.M. Coetzee and Salman Rushdie to win the Booker Prize twice? (Of course, in Rushdie’s case, he won a Booker as well as a Booker of Bookers.)

Divisadero is published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart and in the U.S. and U.K. by Alfred A. Knopf

Bibliography
ONDAATJE Michael [1943-] Novelist, poet. Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Novels Divisadero (2007); Anil’s Ghost (2000: winner of the 2000 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize and the 2000 Governor General’s Award for Fiction and co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Fiction); The English Patient (1992: co-winner of the 1992 Booker Prize for Fiction and winner of the 1992 Governor General’s Award for Fiction and the 1992 Trillium Book Award for Fiction); In the Skin of a Lion (1987: winner of the City of Toronto Book Award and the 1987 Trillium Book Award for Fiction; shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction); Running in the Family (1982); Coming Through Slaughter (1976: winner of the 1976 Books in Canada First Novel Award) Poetry Handwriting (1998); The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems (1991); Two Poems (1986); Secular Love (1984); Tin Roof (1982); Rat Jelly and Other Poems: 1963-78 (1980); There’s a Trick with a Knife I’m Learning to Do: Poems, 1963-1978 (1979: winner of the 1980 Governor General’s Award for Poetry); Claude Glass (1979); Elimination Dance (1978); Rat Jelly (1973); The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left Handed Poems (1970: winner of the Governor General’s Award for Poetry); The Man with Seven Toes (1969); The Dainty Monsters (1967) Nonfiction The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film (2002) Edited Paris Stories (2002); From Ink Lake: Canadian Stories (1990-91); The Faber Book of Contemporary Canadian Short Stories (1990); The Long Poem Anthology (1979); Personal Fictions: Stories by Munro, Wiebe, Thomas, and Blaise (1977); The Broken Ark: A Book of Beasts (Poems chosen by Michael Ondaatje, drawings by Tony Urquhart) (1971)