From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Philip Michael Ondaatje born September 12 1943 OC is a Sri Lankanborn Canadian novelist and poet of Colombo Chetty and Burgher origin He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prizewinning novel The English Patient which was adapted into an AcademyAwardwinning film Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Ondaatje licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia