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Ondaatje's family was of Dutch, English, Sinhalese, and Tamil descent. As a child, Ondaatje learned to speak both Sinhalese and English, though he only lived on the island of Ceylon for a short period of his life. He is best known for his novel The English Patient.
Ondaatje is included in AustLit because some of his works have been the subject of studies by Australian critics and scholars - Australian Literary Responses to 'Asia'.
