| Yann Martel, a Canadian author, won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction award for his novel Life of Pi. First published by Knopf Canada in September 2001, the UK edition of the novel won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction the following year. It was chosen for CBC Radio’s Canada Reads 2003, where it was championed by author Nancy Lee. It won the 2003 Boeke Prize, a South African novel award. In his original essay on Life of Pi, Martel revealed his inspiration and motives for his novel. During his visit in India with the purpose of writing a story, he experienced such immense disappointment as a writer after writing two unsuccessful books. He felt like his life was going nowhere and he was in need of inspiration. As he puts it, “I was sort of looking for a story, not only with a small ‘s’ but sort of with a capital ‘S’ – something that would direct my life.” He spoke of being lonely and needing direction in his life, and at one point, India gave him the inspiration he needed. A story came up to his mind, and so it became his purpose and direction in life. |