From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Philip Michael Ondaatje (born September 12, 1943), OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Colombo Chetty and Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Ondaatje, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.