Yann Martel on writing Life of Pi: 'You want a sense that it was written in one breath'
In an exclusive interview, the 2002 Booker Prize winner talks about the process behind his best-known novel — and making the fantastic feel believable
Yann Martel
Yann Martel is best known for his Booker Prize 2002-winning novel Life of Pi, which was adapted for cinema by Ang Lee and won four Oscars and adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti and won 5 Olivier Awards
He has written three other novels; Self, Beatrice & Virgil and The High Mountains of Portugal as well as short story collection, The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. Martel ran a guerrilla book club with Stephen Harper, sending the former prime minister of Canada a book every two weeks for four years. The letters that accompanied the books were published as 101 Letters to a Prime Minister. Martel lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with the writer Alice Kuipers, and their four children.
Watch the 2002 ceremony
Winner The Booker Prize 2002
- By
- Yann Martel
- Published by
- Canongate
Yann Martel’s warmly engaging philosophical novel is brimming with invention, ideas and playful conceits. A true modern classic
