Yann Martel list within the first month of its release. Martel has said in a number of interviews that Dante's "Divine Comedy" is the single most impressive book he has ever read. In talking about his most memorable childhood book, he recalls "Le Petit Chose" by Alphonse Daudet. He said that he read it when he was ten years old, and it was the first time he found a book so heartbreaking that it moved him to tears. Yann Martel Yann Martel (born 25 June 1963) is a Spanish-born Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel "Life of Pi",
Yann Martel I best express the subtlety of life. But I must say that French is the language closest to my heart. And for this same reason, English gives me a sufficient distance to write." The son of French-Canadians Nicole Perron and Émile Martel, Yann Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain, where his parents were studying at the University of Salamanca. His mother was enrolled in Hispanic Studies, while his father was working on a PhD on the Spanish writer and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno. Soon after his birth, the family moved, first to Coimbra, Portugal; and Madrid, Spain; and then to