Happy blue moon, everyone!
Yes, it is indeed the second full moon of the month which brings us a second May chapter of 3 Books.
This one features an author I’ve been hoping to have on our show for years.
Join me in welcoming the Booker Prize–winning novelist, deeply philosophical storyteller, and one of Canada’s most distinctive literary voices ... Mr. Yann Martel!
Yann is best known for ‘Life of Pi’, the global phenomenon that won The Booker Prize in 2002, sold over 15 million copies worldwide, and was later adapted into an Academy Award–winning film.
Born in Salamanca, Spain in 1963, Yann spent his childhood in Spain, Portugal, Alaska, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Canada.
Yann’s work is deeply shaped by a pulsing curiosity, philosophy, and research. He journeyed through India while developing ‘Life of Pi’, visited Holocaust memorial sites while writing ‘Beatrice and Virgil’, and even launched a "guerilla book club" called ‘101 Letters to a Prime Minister’, where he mailed books to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper every two weeks for four years.
Yann's newest novel, ‘Son of Nobody’, is a (new!) ancient retelling of the Trojan War told through the modern lens of a Canadian researcher who discovers this poem while exploring themes of homesickness, regret, ambition, love, and grief.
Tune in as we discuss Yann’s writing routines, the importance of stories, AI in the world of publishing, racism in Australia, art as a co-creation between writer and reader, the beauty of the prairies, and of course, Yann Martel's most formative books...
Let’s flip the page to Chapter 161 now...
Chapter 161: Yann Martel on rural revelations and reliable writing routines
View full transcript here
CONNECT with YANN
YANN’s 3 Books
First Book (19:40)
Second Book (49:25)
Third Book (1:00:58)
Bonus Book (1:01:19)
WORDCLOUD OF THE CHAPTER
Quotes
“One thing I’m certain is there’s always going to be a hunger for stories.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“Art is manufactured meaning.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“I don’t need AI to help me write cause it would be like having AI have sex for you or eat for you. I’d rather do it myself.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“There’s something about the written word that uniquely speaks to the human psyche.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“I’d rather look upon the extraordinary than dwell on the ordinary.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“Necessarily, footnotes refer to something above it … they don’t exist on their own, they’re necessarily like us, they’re social animals.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“I’d rather have less good poetry by a human than excellent poetry by a robot.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“Metaphorically, the tallest thing here in the prairies is the human being.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“To me, everything in life is about connection and chemistry. Everything meaningful.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
“For writers, I would say turn your back on the world. The world will always tell you it doesn’t need another book, another poem, another play—it’s not true.” – Yann Martel | 3 Books Podcast
Show Notes
‘Life of Pi’ by Yann Martel
Yann Martel's interview in The Guardian
‘101 Letters to a Prime Minister’ by Yann Martel
‘Argo’
‘Crash’
‘Hunger’ by Knut Hamsun
‘Son of Nobody’ by Yann Martel
‘The Forgiven and the Forgotten’ (Yann’s New Book, shown as a prototype in this chapter)
Friesens in Altona, Manitoba
The Bible
The Quran
‘Empire of AI’ by Karen Hao
The motto on Saskatchewan license plates: “Land of living skies.”
Sudoku
A Saskatchewan Tourism poster using Yann's quotes:
