Yann Martel out that he could not have stolen from a work he had not at the time read, and he willingly acknowledged being influenced by the New York Times review of Scliar's work and thanked him in the Author's Note of Life of Pi. "Life of Pi" was later chosen for the 2003 edition of CBC Radio's "Canada Reads" competition, where it was championed by author Nancy Lee. In addition, its French translation, "Histoire de Pi", was included in the French version of the competition, "Le combat des livres", in 2004, championed by singer Louise Forestier. Martel was the Samuel Fischer
Yann Martel Fairbanks, Alaska; and Victoria, British Columbia, where his father taught at the Universities of Alaska and Victoria, respectively. His parents subsequently joined the Canadian foreign service, and he was therefore raised in San José, Costa Rica, Paris, France, and Madrid, Spain, with stints in Ottawa, Ontario, in between postings. Martel completed his final two years of high school at Trinity College School, a boarding school in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, and completed an undergraduate degree in philosophy at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. As an adult, Martel worked at odd jobs – parking lot attendant in Ottawa, dishwasher in a