Award-Winning Author of The English Patient to Make Rare Maui Appearance in The Green Room, Saturday, June 25th, 2016.
On Saturday, June 25th, The Merwin Conservancy presents a rare appearance of award-winning author Michale Ondaatje, best known for The English Patient, his novel-turned Academy Award winning film. Ondaatje is the guest of honor at the Conservancy’s next installment of The Green Room, an environmental and literary salon series on Maui. The event begins at 7:00pm in the McCoy Studio Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, with doors opening at 6:30pm. Tickets are $25 per person (with a $10 student rate available with student I.D.) and are available at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Box Office, by calling 808-242-SHOW or purchasing online at https://www.mauiarts.org/events/michael-ondaatje. All ticket sales benefit local non-profit The Merwin Conservancy.
Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet, whose work includes fiction, autobiography, poetry and film. One of Canada’s most highly regarded writers, Ondaatje is known for his lyrical, beautiful works, which dissolve the lines between prose and poetry, past and present, image and intellect, thought and feeling.
Whether retelling an American myth in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1973), reshaping recollections of friends and family from his childhood in old Ceylon in Running in the Family (1982), or delving into the brutality of Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war in Anil’s Ghost (2000), Ondaatje displays a keen understanding of the internal struggles of his characters, using a poetic writing style that depends upon juxtaposition, startling imagery and intense, often difficult, language. His 1992 novel, The English Patient, won the Booker Prize, and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning feature film of the same name. A well-regarded poet before turning to fiction, Ondaatje’s work in both genres is infused with sensual images, rich language and a deeply metaphorical bent.
“We are honored to have such a celebrated writer joining us on Maui in The Green Room.” said Merwin Conservancy Executive Director Jason Denhart. “Michael’s stories and poems have truly changed the world.”
Michael Ondaatje will inspire The Green Room audience with readings and discussion. A reception with music, desert, champagne, and book signing to follow. Generously presented by FIM Group. All ticket sales benefit the non-profit Merwin Conservancy.