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Home , Giller Prize, Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

Friday, February 13, 2015, 8pm Memorial Stadium University Club

Michael Ondaatje Linda

In Conversation with Chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks

Cal Performances’ " !#–" !$ season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

PLAYBILL ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

ERKELEY TALKS is a new series of conver- prizes, including the for Fiction, Bsations that bring together international the Irish Times International Prize for Fiction, thought leaders, public scholars, creators, and the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, the Prix innovators to examine the distinctive issues of Médicis, the Governor General’s Award, and our time. These luminaries will engage in di- the . alogue at the sometimes surprising nexus be- tween their area of expertise and the Nicholas B. Dirks be- University’s core mission, celebrating the came the tenth chancel- Chancellor’s vision of a vibrant, engaged, and lor of the University of forward-look ing campus culture. California, Berkeley, on June 1, 2013. An inter- is one of the world’s fore- nationally renowned most writers—his artistry and aesthetic have historian and anthro- influenced an entire generation of writers and pologist, he is a leader in readers. Although best known for his novels, higher education and Mr. Ondaatje’s work also encompasses poetry, well-known for his commitment to and advo- memoir, and film, and reveals a passion for cacy for accessible, high-quality undergradu- defying conventional form. His transcendent ate education in the liberal arts and sciences, novel explores the stories to the globalization of the university, and to of people history fails to reveal by intersect- innovation across the disciplines as well as in ing four diverse lives at the end of World War applied and basic fields. II. This bestselling novel was later made into Before coming to Berkeley, he was the ex- an Academy Award-winning film. ecutive vice president for the arts and sciences Mr. Ondaatje himself is an interesting and dean of the faculty at Columbia intersection of cultures. Born in , the University, where, in addition to his work on former Ceylon, of Indian-Dutch ancestry, he behalf of undergraduate programs, he im- went to school in England and then moved to proved and diversified the faculty, putting . He is now a Canadian citizen. From special emphasis on interdisciplinary and in- the memoir of his childhood, Running in the ternational initiatives. The Franz Boas Family, to his Governor-General’s Award- Professor of Anthropology and History, winning book of poetry, There’s a Trick with a Chancellor Dirks joined Columbia in 1997 as Knife I’m Learning to Do, to his classic novel, chair of the anthropology department. Prior The English Patient, Mr. Ondaatje casts a spell to his appointment at Columbia, he was a pro- over his readers. And having won the British fessor of history and anthropology at the Commonwealth’s highest honor, the Booker University of Michigan for ten years, before Prize, he has taken his rightful place as a which he taught Asian history and civilization contemporary literary treasure. at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of four collections of poetry, Chancellor Dirks has held numerous fel- including The Cinn amon Peeler and, most lowships and scholarships and received several recently, Handwriting. His works of fiction scholarly honors, including a MacArthur include In the Skin of a Lion, The English Foundation residential fellowship at the Patient, Anil’s Ghost, , and The Cat’s Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, a Table. Mr. Ondaatje’s work of nonfiction is The Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Lionel Conversations: and the Art of Trilling Award for his book Castes of Mind. He Editing Film, which unites his love of literature serves on numerous national and international and passion for the art of filmmaking. bodies, as adviser or member of the board, and Mr. Ondaatje has garnered several literary is a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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