Yann Martel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yann Martel
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Martel in 2007
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| Born | June 25, 1963 Salamanca, Spain |
| Occupation | Novelist- journalist |
| Alma mater | Trent University |
| Period | 1988–present |
| Notable works | Life of Pi, Beatrice and Virgil, The High Mountains of Portugal |
| Partner | Alice Kuipers (2002–present) |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Émile Martel (father) |
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Yann Martel, CC (born June 25, 1963) is a Canadian author. He is famous for his novel Life of Pi. This book won the Man Booker Prize and became a huge international bestseller. It sold over 12 million copies worldwide! Life of Pi was also made into a popular movie by director Ang Lee. The movie won four Oscars, including Best Director.
Martel has written other novels too, like The High Mountains of Portugal and Beatrice and Virgil. He also wrote a collection of stories called The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. He has won several literary awards for his writing.
Yann Martel lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with his wife, writer Alice Kuipers, and their four children. Even though his first language is French, he writes his books in English.
Contents
Yann Martel's Early Life
Yann Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1963. His parents, Émile Martel and Nicole Perron, were French-Canadians studying at the University of Salamanca. His family moved around a lot when he was young. They lived in places like Portugal, Spain, and even Alaska! His father taught at universities.
Later, his parents joined the Canadian foreign service. This meant Yann grew up in different countries, including Costa Rica, France, and Spain. He also spent time in Ottawa, Ontario. He finished high school in Port Hope, Ontario, and studied philosophy at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.
As a young adult, Martel worked many different jobs. He was a parking lot attendant, a dishwasher, and even a security guard at the Canadian Embassy in Paris. He also traveled through many countries like Mexico, Iran, and India. He started writing plays and short stories while he was at university.
In 2003, Martel moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with Alice Kuipers.
Martel's Writing Career
Yann Martel's first story, Mister Ali and the Barrelmaker, was published in 1988. Another short story, The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, won the Journey Prize in 1991. He also won a National Magazine Award for his story The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton.
Martel says that The Canada Council for the Arts helped him a lot. They gave him grants to support his writing. In his book Life of Pi, he thanked them. He wrote that if we don't support artists, we lose our imagination.
In 1993, a collection of his short stories was published. His first novel, Self, came out in 1996.
Life of Pi Success
Martel's second novel, Life of Pi, was published on September 11, 2001. It quickly became a huge success. In 2002, it won the famous Man Booker Prize. The book stayed on The New York Times Bestseller List for over a year!
The idea for Life of Pi came to him after reading a review of another book about a person sharing a lifeboat with a wild animal. Martel thanked the author of that book, Moacyr Scliar, in his own novel.
Life of Pi was chosen for the 2003 Canada Reads competition on CBC Radio. Its French translation was also chosen for a similar competition in 2004.
Other Works and Activities
From 2002 to 2007, Martel was a visiting professor and scholar at different universities. He taught a course called "The Animal in Literature." He also worked with a composer on a music piece based on his writing.
His third novel, Beatrice and Virgil, was published in 2010. This book is an allegorical story about the Holocaust. It uses a writer, a taxidermist, and two stuffed animals to explore the topic.
From 2007 to 2011, Martel had a unique book club with the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. He sent the Prime Minister a book every two weeks for four years! These letters were later published as a book called 101 Letters to a Prime Minister.
In 2014, Martel became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His fourth novel, The High Mountains of Portugal, came out in 2016. It quickly became a New York Times Bestseller.
Yann Martel's Published Books
- Seven Stories (1993)
- The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios (Collection of four short stories) (1993)
- Self (1996)
- Life of Pi (2001)
- We Ate the Children Last (Short story) (2004)
- Beatrice and Virgil (2010)
- 101 Letters to a Prime Minister: The Complete Letters to Stephen Harper (2012)
- The High Mountains of Portugal (2016)
- Son of Nobody (2024)
Awards and Recognitions
The High Mountains of Portugal
Beatrice and Virgil
- New York Times Bestseller 2010
- Boston Globe Bestseller
- Los Angeles Times Bestseller
- National No. 1 bestseller in Maclean's
Life of Pi
- Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction
- New York Times Bestseller List 2002–03 (61 weeks)
- Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature 2002
- Winner of the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction 2001
- Winner of The Boeke Prize 2003 (South Africa)
'The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios' (short story)
- Winner of the 1991 Journey Prize
Movie Adaptations
- Life of Pi (2012): Directed by Ang Lee. It won many awards. Yann Martel even has a small cameo in the movie!
- We Ate the Children Last: An independent film based on his short story.
- Manners of Dying (2004): Directed by Jeremy Peter Allen.
- The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios
Stage Adaptations
- Beatrice and Virgil (2013): Adapted for the stage and performed in Toronto.
- The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios
- Life of Pi (2019): Adapted for the stage in Sheffield. This play uses amazing puppets to bring the animals from the story to life!
What Influenced Yann Martel
Yann Martel has often said that Dante's Divine Comedy is the most impressive book he has ever read. For his favorite childhood book, he remembers Le Petit Chose by Alphonse Daudet. He read it when he was ten and it was the first book that made him cry.
Some of the writers who have influenced him include Dante Alighieri, Franz Kafka, Joseph Conrad, Leo Tolstoy, and J.M. Coetzee.
Honours and Awards
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Yann Martel has received a high honour in Canada:
- He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada (C.C.) on December 29, 2021. This award recognized his important contributions to literature and his work helping his community.
See also
In Spanish: Yann Martel para niños
