Life of Pi Life of Pi Life of Pi is a Canadian fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry who explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The novel has sold more than ten million copies worldwide. It was rejected by at least five London publishing houses before being accepted by Knopf Canada, which published it in September 2001. The UK edition won
Yann Martel poetry collections, graphic novels and children's books. Each gift was accompanied by a letter explaining the worth of the book. The point was to make clear to Stephen Harper that reading literature is not only a pleasure, but an essential way of knowing the world and understanding life. For all his efforts, Martel received not a single reply from the Prime Minister. The letters were published as a book in 2012, "101 Letters to a Prime Minister". The Polish magazine "Histmag" cited him as the inspiration behind their giving of books to the Prime Minister Donald Tusk, however, this was