New Releases by Michael Ondaatje

With contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Robert Macfarlane, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling, Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak ''This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book...'' So begins the essay by Robert Macfarlane that inspired this collection. In this cornucopia of an anthology, you will find essays by some of the world''s most beloved novelists, nonfiction writers, essayists and poets. ''You will see books taking flight in flocks, migrating around the world, landing in people''s hearts and changing them for a day or a year or a lifetime. ''You will see books sparking wonder or anger; throwing open windows into other languages, other cultures, other minds; causing people to fall in love or to fight for what is right. ''And more than anything, over and over again, you will see books and words being given, received and read - and in turn prompting further generosity.'' Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of global literacy non-profit, Room to Read, The Gifts of Reading forms inspiring, unforgettable, irresistible proof of the power and necessity of books and reading. Inspired by Robert Macfarlane Curated by Jennie Orchard

«Un romanzo incandescente e indelebile... di pericolosa bellezza.» USA Today «Domina un''aura poetica, mai stucchevole, che riesce a dire tutto, o quasi, sul lutto, la solitudine, il dolore, l''amicizia.» Sette - Corriere della Sera Dopo lungo tempo, Anil Tissera torna nello Sri Lanka, dove è nata e che ha lasciato al termine della scuola, in qualità di medico legale per conto di una commissione per i diritti umani. Deve dimostrare che, in un paese straziato dalla guerra civile, a uccidere e compiere atti terroristici non sono solo i ribelli, ma anche uomini legati al governo che torturano e fanno scomparire i presunti oppositori. A tale scopo Anil collabora con un archeologo locale, Sarath Diyasena, ma ad attrarla è piuttosto il fratello minore di Sarath, Gamini: è medico come lei, ma si occupa dei vivi, degli scampati, da qualunque parte stiano. Nel primo romanzo scritto dopo Il paziente inglese, Michael Ondaatje conferma le sue straordinarie doti di narratore. Attraverso le vicende di individui che cercano la propria verità in un paese bello e infelice, Lo spettro di Anil esplora i temi eterni dell’amore e del tradimento, ma si confronta anche con la realtà contemporanea nei suoi aspetti più crudi e controversi. Con una scrittura insieme precisa e sinuosa, con la sua inimitabile capacità di penetrare il labirinto delle emozioni, di cogliere la bellezza di un paesaggio o l’intensità di un silenzio, Ondaatje riesce a trasmetterci la verità profonda dell’esperienza umana, sospesa tra mito e mistero; quella verità che forse possiamo incontrare solo attraverso un sapiente gioco di allusioni, come in un evanescente riflesso.

Llega una nueva y aclamada novela del célebre autor de El paciente inglés . Una obra cumbre sobre la guerra, la adolescencia y la memoria. «Una nueva obra maestra de Michael Ondaatje .» Anna Mundow , The Washington Post La nueva novela de Michael Ondaatje, galardonado en 2018 con el Booker de Oro al mejor libro de la historia de este premio, es un relato hipnótico y profundo sobre los lúgubres años que siguieron al final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. El relato que hace Nathaniel de su infancia y adolescencia tras la sospechosa partida de sus padres hacia Singapur está compuesto por los destellos, los restos y los recuerdos ensamblados de una época en la que, junto a su hermana, entra en contacto con un pequeño grupo de personajes de dudosa procedencia e intenciones poco claras. Quizá criminales, quizá agentes políticos, todos ellos conforman una incierta y problemática red de relaciones. El peso grave de la guerra, la omnipresencia de las ausencias familiares y su influencia sobre estas vidas subterráneas cobran aquí un efecto casi mágico que hacen que en Luz de guerra también la oscuridad brille. La crítica ha dicho... «Una crónica de la orfandad. Una búsqueda de la identidad. Una excursión por el zoo humano que transita entre el sentido del humor y el thriller desde los presupuestos de una prosa deslumbrante.» Rubén Amón, El Confidencial «Una novela inolvidable y brillante [...]. Puede que sea la mejor novela de Ondaatje hasta la fecha.» Publishers Weekly «Este es un libro rico en detalles [...]. Una novela intrincada y absorbente.» Penelope Lively, The New York Times Review of Books «Si los escritores son cartógrafos del corazón, la obra de Michael Ondaatje podría llenar un atlas. [...] Luz de guerra es una danza compleja de anhelos y engaño y una singular oda al vínculo entre madre e hijo.» Hamilton Cain, O Magazine «[Ondaatje]lanza un encantamiento mágico mientras te lleva a un mundo en penumbras de guerra y amor, muerte y pérdida, y los oscuros cauces del pasado.» Hermione Lee, New York Review of Books «Una nueva obra maestra de Michael Ondaatje [...]. Luz de guerra es un mosaico de fragmentos tan inteligentemente ensamblados que el patrón parece tan inevitable como armonioso.[...] En Luz de guerra todo está iluminado, al principio levemente, luego de maneradirecta, pero siempre brillante.» Anna Mundow, The Washington Post «Un misterio lírico que se desarrolla a la sombra de la Segunda Guerra Mundial [...]. La hábil personalidad de Ondaatje se despliega en un drama inteligente y sofisticado, uno que ha hecho que la merezca la pena la espera para los fans de las intrigas de los tiempos de guerra.» Kirkus Review « Luz de guerra es una obra maestra de los desplazamientos de la memoria.» Bethanne Patrick, The San Diego Union-Tribune «Michael Ondaatje está en la cima de sus capacidades [...]. Luz de guerra me ha absorbido más que cualquier otra novela que pueda recordar; cuando levanté la mirada, me sorprendió ver que seguíamos en el siglo XXI.» Alex Preston, The Guardian

I London efter krigsslutet blir tonåringarna Nathaniel och Rachel övergivna av sina föräldrar, som i all hast måste lämna staden. Ansvaret för att ta hand om syskonen faller på en man de aldrig tidigare träffat. Han kallas Nattfjärilen och framstår omedelbart som en synnerligen olämplig beskyddare av två ungdomar. Nathaniel och Rachel misstänker att han är kriminell, och blir än mer övertygade när de lär känna hans excentriska vänner, som samtidigt skapar en viss trygghet. En samling män och kvinnor med en gemensam historia av kriget som alla, på sitt sätt, verkar ha bestämt sig för att skydda dem. Men är de vuxna verkligen vilka de påstår sig vara – och från vad behöver ungdomarna skyddas? När Nathaniel i vuxen ålder försöker förstå åren efter kriget och hans mors roll i det, är hans minnen bedrägliga och familjens hemligheter djupt fördolda. Lyktsken är en mästerlig roman av en av vår tids stora berättare. ”Lyktsken är ännu ett stillsamt mästerverk av Michael Ondaatje ... En elegant thriller med samma magnetiska dragningskraft som i en mörk saga.” Washington Post ”En fascinerande egensinnig skapelse.” Svenska Dagbladet om Den engelska patienten

Dans Londres dévasté par les bombardements de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, la vie est dure, les denrées sont rares, l’avenir est incertain. C’est le moment que choisissent les parents de Nathaniel et de Rachel pour leur annoncer qu’ils doivent les quitter parce que leur père vient d’être nommé en poste à Singapour. Ils sont confiés à un tuteur qu’ils surnomment « Papillon de nuit ». Entre le départ de leur père et le comportement désinvolte de leur mère, les deux adolescents s’apprêtent à découvrir que le présent comme le passé de leur famille sont embrouillés par le jeu des apparences. « Nous avions l’habitude des récits incomplets », de dire Nathaniel.Au fur et à mesure que la vie s’organise dans la maison où viennent s’installer d’étonnants pensionnaires, les enfants commencent peu à peu à mettre en place les pièces du puzzle. Les tuteurs qui veillent sur eux sont-ils des criminels? Pourquoi leurs parents ont-ils menti? Servent-ils une noble cause ou des intérêts inavouables? D’où viennent ces étrangers qui partagent maintenant leur quotidien? Ce n’est qu’à l’âge adulte qu’ils découvriront toutes les clés de l’énigme, mais ce sera à une époque où eux-mêmes auront à se pencher sur les mensonges qui les ont accompagnés tout au long de leur propre existence. Inspiré par les maîtres du roman d’espionnage, l’auteur du Patient anglais fait alterner l’ombre et la lumière dans un suspens feutré qui prend des allures de chasse aux fantômes.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • From the internationally acclaimed, Booker Prize-winning author of The English Patient: “an elegiac thriller [with] the immediate allure of a dark fairy tale” (The Washington Post) set in the decade after World War II that tells the dramatic story of two teenagers and an eccentric group of characters. In a narrative as beguiling and mysterious as memory itself—shadowed and luminous at once—we read the story of fourteen-year-old Nathaniel, and his older sister, Rachel. In 1945, just after World War II, they stay behind in London when their parents move to Singapore, leaving them in the care of a mysterious figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and they grow both more convinced and less concerned as they come to know his eccentric crew of friends: men and women joined by a shared history of unspecified service during the war, all of whom seem, in some way, determined now to protect, and educate (in rather unusual ways) Rachel and Nathaniel. But are they really what and who they claim to be? And what does it mean when the siblings'' mother returns after months of silence without their father, explaining nothing, excusing nothing? A dozen years later, Nathaniel begins to uncover all that he didn''t know and understand in that time, and it is this journey—through facts, recollection, and imagination—that he narrates in this masterwork from one of the great writers of our time.

Writers from Alice Walker to Michael Ondaatje to Claire Messud share their thoughts on one of the most vital gatherings of writers and readers in the world. The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008 by authors Ahdaf Soueif, Brigid Keenan, Victoria Brittain and Omar Robert Hamilton. Bringing writers to Palestine from all corners of the globe, it aimed to break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, "the power of culture over the culture of power." This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems, and sketches from some of the world''s most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and hope in the most desperate of situations. Contributing authors include J. M. Coetzee, China Miéville, Alice Walker, Geoff Dyer, Claire Messud, Henning Mankell, Michael Ondaatje, Kamila Shamsie, Michael Palin, Deborah Moggach, Mohammed Hanif, Gillian Slovo, Adam Foulds, Susan Abulhawa, Ahdaf Soueif, Jeremy Harding, Brigid Keenan, Rachel Holmes, Suad Amiry, Gary Younge, Jamal Mahjoub, Molly Crabapple, Najwan Darwish, Nathalie Handal, Omar Robert Hamilton, Pankaj Mishra, Raja Shehadeh, Selma Dabbagh, William Sutcliffe, Atef Abu Saif, Yasmin El-Rifae, Sabrina Mahfouz, Alaa Abd El Fattah, Mercedes Kemp, Ru Freeman.

Con inusitada belleza e inteligencia, Michael Ondaatje traza la intersección en los últimos días de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y en una villa italiana abandonada, de cuatro vidas dañadas. Ganadora del Golden Man Booker Prize 2018, el único de la historia. Hana, una enfermera agotada por la muerte que la rodea, se dedica obsesivamente a su último paciente. Caravaggio, el ladrón, intenta volver a imaginar quién es ahora que sus manos están irremediablemente mermadas. Kip, el rastreador de minas indio, busca artefactos ocultos en un paisaje donde nadie está a salvo excepto él. En el centro de este laberinto descansa el paciente inglés, completamente abrasado, un hombre sin nombre que es un acertijo y una provocación para sus compañeros, y cuyos recuerdos de traición, dolor y salvación iluminan la novela como destellos de luz ardiente. ** Con motivo del 50 aniversario del Man Booker Prize, el más prestigioso premio de literatura del mundo anglófono, se concedió por única vez el Golden Man Booker Prize. El jurado del Premio Man Booker y el público eligieron la mejor de las 51 obras premiadas en el pasado... y optaron por esta novela de Michael Ondaatje, El paciente inglés. Reseñas: « El paciente inglés logra la triple corona: es profunda, bella y apasionante.» Toni Morrison «Más que una novela, es una alfombra mágica que nos traslada a través de épocas y geografías... Una red de sueños extraordinarios y cautivadora.» Time

Vincitore del Man Booker Prize nel 1992, Il Paziente inglese si è aggiudicato il prestigioso premio Golden Man Booker Prize 2018. In lizza per il premio c''erano i vincitori di tutte le precedenti edizioni del Man Booker Prize, tra cui Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro e George Saunders. Sul finire del secondo conflitto mondiale, tre uomini e una donna si rifugiano in una villa semidevastata sulle colline di Firenze. In una stanza del piano superiore giace, gravemente ustionato in un incidente d’aereo, premurosamente accudito dall’infermiera Hana, il misterioso «paziente inglese». Dai suoi racconti allucinati dalla morfina riemergono l’amore travolgente per Katharine e le avventurose peregrinazioni nel deserto. Intorno alla sua convalescenza s’intrecciano le vicende degli altri abitatori della villa: Hanam Caravaggio, un ladro che lavora per i servizi segreti, e Kip, un sikh, abile artificiere. La memoria, i miti e le leggende personali dei quattro protagonisti, lacerati e turbati dall’esperienza della guerra, ripercorrono la storia di un’epoca, e ci permettono di giudicarla. Ma Il paziente inglese è soprattutto una grande storia d’amore, un sogno emozionante, animato da una trascinante tensione lirica, ambientato in un fragile Eden, troppo vicino all’Apocalisse.

Aus den tiefen Wäldern Kanadas kommt Patrick Lewis in den zwanziger Jahren nach Toronto, in die Stadt, die vor Vitalität aus allen Nähten platzt. Zunächst ein Fremder im eigenen Land, wächst er rasch in eine immer unüberschaubarer werdende Welt hinein.

During the filming of his celebrated novel THE ENGLISH PATIENT, Michael Ondaatje became increasingly fascinated as he watched the veteran editor Walter Murch at work. THE CONVERSATIONS, which grew out of discussions between the two men, is about the craft of filmmaking and deals with every aspect of film, from the first stage of script writing to the final stage of the sound mix. Walter Murch emerged during the 1960s at the centre of a renaissance of American filmmakers which included the directors Francis Coppola, George Lucas and Fred Zinneman. He worked on a whole raft of great films including the three GODFATHER films, JULIA, AMERICAN GRAFFITI, APOCALYPSE NOW, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING and many others. Articulate, intellectual, humorous and passionate about his craft and its devices, Murch brings his vast experience and penetrating insights to bear as he explains how films are made, how they work, how they go wrong and how they can be saved. His experience on APOCALYPSE NOW - both originally and more recently when the film was completely re-cut - and his work with Anthony Minghella on THE ENGLISH PATIENT provide illuminating highlights.

In het begin van de jaren vijftig van de vorige eeuw stapt een elfjarige jongen in Sri Lanka aan boord van een schip naar Engeland. Tijdens de maaltijden zit hij niet aan de kapiteinstafel, maar aan de ''kattentafel'', samen met een groepje volwassenen en twee andere jongens van zijn leeftijd. De drie jongens raken al snel bevriend, en wat eerst een saaie, eindeloze reis leek te worden, wordt een groot avontuur en een rite de passage. Op het schip is genoeg afleiding: zo vertelt een man het drietal over jazz en vrouwen, en een ander vertelt hun over literatuur. Weer een ander neemt ze mee naar de tuin in het ruim vol geheimzinnige tropische planten, die hij meeneemt naar Engeland. Er zijn jongleurs aan boord, er is een baron die een dief blijkt te zijn, een rijke Ceylonees krijgt een zeemansgraf, maar het ware avontuur begint ''s nachts, als de jongens ontdekken dat het schip een mysterieuze gevangene herbergt, die door zijn bewakers in de stille nachtelijke uren wordt gelucht. De daden van de gevangene en zijn onzekere toekomst blijven voor de jongens een raadsel, maar wel een raadsel dat hen voor altijd zal blijven achtervolgen. De kattentafel is een subtiele en spannende roman over een levenslange reis die begon als een spectaculaire tocht over zee. Michael Ondaatje is een van de grootste schrijvers van dit moment. Hij is geboren in Sri Lanka en woont nu in Canada. Ondaatje is het bekendst van zijn roman De Engelse patiënt, waarmee hij in 1992 de Booker Prize in de wacht sleepte. Zijn laatste roman, Divisadero, won de Governor General''s Award voor literaire fictie. De kattentafel is een nieuw hoogtepunt in zijn imposante oeuvre. ''Zijn beste roman sinds De Engelse patiënt.'' publishers weekly * ''Een welsprekend, weemoedig eerbetoon aan het spel van de jeugd en dat wat er op zou moeten volgen.'' the independent on sunday ''Niemand die een roman of gedicht van Ondaatje heeft gelezen, kan zijn grote verbeeldingskracht vergeten. Ook zijn nieuwe roman kenmerkt zich hierdoor. Ondaatje heeft zelf aangegeven dat, hoewel De kattentafel pure fictie is, het is getekend door de kleuren en passages van memoir en autobiografie. Dit kan de reden zijn dat zijn sublieme proza nog levendiger overkomt dan ooit tevoren.'' the financial times ''De kattentafel verdient het om te worden herkend aan de schoonheid en de poëzie van zijn taal: pagina''s die je laten wiegen op hun zorgvuldig opgebouwde ritme zeilen je moeiteloos van hoofdstuk naar hoofdstuk, om je aan het einde van de roman ontredderd achter te laten.'' the telegraph

In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the “cat’s table”—as far from the Captain’s Table as can be—with a ragtag group of “insignificant” adults and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another, bursting all over the place like freed mercury. But there are other diversions as well: one man talks with them about jazz and women, another opens the door to the world of literature. The narrator’s elusive, beautiful cousin Emily becomes his confidante, allowing him to see himself “with a distant eye” for the first time, and to feel the first stirring of desire. Another Cat’s Table denizen, the shadowy Miss Lasqueti, is perhaps more than what she seems. And very late every night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner, his crime and his fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever. As the narrative moves between the decks and holds of the ship and the boy’s adult years, it tells a spellbinding story—by turns poignant and electrifying—about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.

Many readers still claim this haunting, atmospheric novel of Michael Ondaatje''s as their first love—a novel as sensual and erotic today as ever it was. At the turn of the century, the Storyville district of New Orleans had some 2000 prostitutes, 70 professional gamblers, and 30 piano players. But it had only one man who played the cornet like Buddy Bolden—he who cut hair by day at N. Joseph''s Shaving Parlor, and at night played jazz, unleashing an unforgettable wildness and passion in crowded rooms. Self-destructively in love with two women, he embodied all the dire claims that music places on its acolytes. At the age of 31, Buddy Bolden went mad. From these sparse facts, Michael Ondaatje has created a story as beautiful and chilling as a New Orleans funeral procession, where even the mourners dance.

"Tumultuous, vibrant, tragic and over too soon." --Newsday Handwriting is Michael Ondaatje''s first new book of poetry since The Cinnamon Peeler. The exquisite poems collected here draw on history, mythology, landscape, and personal memories to weave a rich tapestry of images that reveal the longing for--and expose the anguish over--lost loves, homes, and language, as the poet contemplates scents and gestures and evokes a time when "handwriting occurred on waves, / on leaves, the scripts of smoke" and remembers a woman''s "laughter with its / intake of breath. Uhh huh." Crafted with lyrical delicacy and seductive power, Handwriting reminds us of Michael Ondaatje''s stature as one of the finest poets writing today.

Michael Ondaatje’s selected poems, The Cinnamon Peeler, brings together poems written between 1963 and 1990, including work from his most recent collection, Secular Love. These poems bear witness to the extraordinary gifts that have won high praise for this truly original poet and novelist.

In the Skin of a Lion is a love story and an irresistible mystery set in the turbulent, muscular new world of Toronto in the 20s and 30s. Michael Ondaatje entwines adventure, romance and history, real and invented, enmeshing us in the lives of the immigrants who built the city and those who dreamed it into being: the politically powerful, the anarchists, bridge builders and tunnellers, a vanished millionaire and his mistress, a rescued nun and a thief who leads a charmed life. This is a haunting tale of passion, privilege and biting physical labour, of men and women moved by compassion and driven by the power of dreams—sometimes even to murder.

WINNER OF THE GOLDEN MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018 ''Magnificent'' Sunday Times ''The best piece of fiction I''ve read in years'' Independent on Sunday The final curtain is closing on the Second World War and in an abandoned Italian village. Hana, a nurse, tends to her sole remaining patient. Rescued from a burning plane, an anonymous Englishman is damaged beyond recognition and haunted by painful memories. The only clue Hana has to unlocking his past is the one thing he clung on to through the fire – a copy of The Histories by Herodotus, covered with hand-written notes detailing a tragic love affair.

''During certain hours, at certain years in our lives, we see ourselves as remnants from the earlier generations that were destroyed... I think all of our lives have been terribly shaped by what went on before us.'' Twenty-five years after leaving his native Sri Lanka for the cool winters of Ontario, a chaotic dream of tropical heat and barking dogs pushes Michael Ondaatje to travel back home and revisit a childhood and a family he never fully understood. Along with his siblings and children, Ondaatje gathers rumours, anecdotes, poems, records and memories to piece together this fragmented portrayal of his family''s past, his father''s destructive alcoholism and the colourful stories and secrets of ancestors both disgraced and adored throughout centuries of Sri Lankan society. In an exotic, evocative portrait of the heat, wildlife, sounds and silences of the Sri Lankan landscape, Ondaatje combines vivid recreations of a privileged, eccentric older generation with a deeply personal reconciliatory journey in which he explores his own ghosts, and how his family''s extraordinary history continues to influence his life.

Michael L. Ondaatje examines the ideas and arguments of prominent black conservative thinkers during the past three decades, charting the evolution of black conservative thought in relation to key debates on affirmative action, welfare, and education.

In his novels, poetry, and memoirs, Booker Prize winner Michael Ondaatje moves from the blasted landscape of Billy the Kid in 1880s New Mexico to the New Orleans jazz world of the legendary Buddy Bolden at the turn of the century, from his native Sri Lanka to the African desert of World War II. Compassionate, lyrical, spellbinding, the work he has created unfolds with mystery and eloquence and enlarges our literature. Included in Vintage Ondaatje are portions of the novels Anil’s Ghost, In the Skin of the Lion, Coming Through Slaughter, and The English Patient; the memoir Running in the Family; sections from The Collected Works of Billy the Kid; and a selection of the poetry. Vintage Readers are a perfect introduction to some of the great modern writers, presented in attractive, affordable paperback editions.

From the celebrated author of The English Patient and Anil''s Ghost comes a remarkable, intimate novel of intersecting lives that ranges across continents and time. In the 1970s in Northern California a father and his teenage daughters, Anna and Claire, work their farm with the help of Coop, an enigmatic young man who makes his home with them. Theirs is a makeshift family, until it is shattered by an incident of violence that sets fire to the rest of their lives. Divisadero takes us from San Francisco to the raucous backrooms of Nevada''s casinos and eventually to the landscape of southern France. As the narrative moves back and forth through time and place, we find each of the characters trying to find some foothold in a present shadowed by the past.

This is a compendium of short essays by some of the world''s finest writers on books that have inspired and influenced them, but are no longer available, or are hard to find, or under-appreciated.

Een vrouwelijke forensische patholoog-anatoom keert in de jaren ''80 terug naar haar geboorteland Sri Lanka om schendingen van de mensenrechten in de daar woedende burgeroorlog te onderzoeken.