Yann Martel in person

Yann Mantel

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure to 'meet' Yann Martel. He is touring Europe to promote his new The High Mountains of Portugal. It was a hilarious two hours of a philosophical and witty performance by Yann Martel. He told us about his most famous book The Life of Pi, how it came to be and how he was inspired. The discussion lingered mostly on his new book, which I of course had to buy and got it signed as well!
novel

Yann Martel has studied philosophy and opened up a lot of new ideas how to approach life. He seemed to have a very relaxed attitude to life in general and his writing especially. He considered himself very lucky to be a writer. Having grown up mostly abroad, his father was a diplomat, he considers travelling a way of grasping the sense of living.

Looking forward to read his latest book, and will read this instead of The Knights Templar in Britain in the challenge "What's in a Name", hosted by Wormhole. Mostly suitable for  a country in the name!

From the publisher about the book.

Three journey. Three broken hearts. One question...
What is a life without stories?

In Lisbon in 1904 a man named Tom´sa discovers and old journal. It hints at the existence of an extraordinary artefact that - if he can find it - would redefine history. Travelling in one of Europe's earliest automobiles, Tomás sets out in search of this strange treasure.

Thirty-five years later, a Portuguese pathologist devoted to the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie finds himself at the centre of a murder mystery of his own, and is drawn into the consequences of Tomás's quest.

Fifty years on, a Canadian senator seeks refuge in his ancestral village in northern Portugal, grieving the loss of his beloved wife. But he arrives with an unusual companion: a chimpanzee. And there the century-old adventure will come to its stirring conclusion.

A quest through the twentieth century, The High Mountains of Portugal tells a tale of great love and great loss. Written with all the warmth, wit and colour one would expect from the author of Life of Pi, it takes the reader on a road trip through Portugal in the last century - and through the human heart.

Yann Martel being interviewed at Passaporta, Brussels