Yann Martel 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", a #1 international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spent more than a year on the Bestseller Lists of the "New York Times" and "The Globe and Mail", among many other best-selling lists. It was adapted to the screen and directed by Ang Lee, garnering four Oscars (the most for the event) including Best Director and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
Richard Parker (economist) Richard Parker (economist) Richard Parker (born November 5, 1946) is an economist from the United States. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Oxford, and has worked for the United Nations Development Programme. Parker co-founded "Mother Jones" magazine and is on the editorial board of "The Nation". He wrote the books "The Myth of the Middle Class", "Mixed Signals: the Future of Global Television News", and "John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics". Parker has held Marshall, Rockefeller, Danforth, Goldsmith, and Bank of America fellowships; and is lecturer in public policy and senior fellow