Yann Martel, CC (born June 25, 1963) is a Canadian author who wrote the Man Booker Prize–winning novel Life of Pi,[1][2][3][4] an international bestseller published in more than 50 territories.

[5] Life of Pi was adapted for a movie directed by Ang Lee,[6][7] garnering four Oscars including Best Director[8][9] and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

[20] His mother was enrolled in Hispanic studies while his father was working on a PhD on Spanish writer Miguel de Unamuno.

[27] His parents joined the Canadian foreign service,[27] and he was raised in San José, Costa Rica; Paris, France; and Madrid, Spain; with stints in Ottawa, Ontario, in between postings.

[20][32] Martel worked at odd jobs as an adult, including as a parking lot attendant in Ottawa, a dishwasher in a tree-planting camp in northern Ontario, and a security guard at the Canadian Embassy in Paris.

[41] In 1992, the Malahat brought out his short story The Time I Heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton, for which he won a National Magazine Award gold.

[44] Martel credits The Canada Council for the Arts for playing a key role in fostering his career, awarding him writing grants in 1991 and 1997.

In the author's note of his novel Life of Pi, he thanked them and wrote: "… If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.

[45][46][51][52] Life of Pi was later chosen for the 2003 edition of CBC Radio's Canada Reads competition, where it was championed by author Nancy Lee.

[55] He collaborated with Omar Daniel, composer-in-residence at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, on a piece for piano, string quartet and bass.

[93] His writing influences include Dante Alighieri, Franz Kafka, Joseph Conrad, Nikolai Gogol, Sinclair Lewis, Moacyr Scliar,[94] Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy, Alphonse Daudet,[95] J.M.