Yann Martel, Booker Prize winner for Life of Pi, has published Son of Nobody, his first novel in exactly 10 years since The High Mountains of Portugal. The book features twin narratives intertwining a modern classics scholar and an ancient Greek soldier during the Trojan War. Martel discussed the work in a recent interview and will appear via livestream from the Sydney Writers' Festival.
Yann Martel, acclaimed author of the Booker Prize-winning Life of Pi, released Son of Nobody on March 27, 2026. The novel marks his return to fiction after a decade, following The High Mountains of Portugal in 2016. Life of Pi, his third book, spent over a year on The New York Times Best Seller list, inspired a film that grossed more than $600 million and won four Academy Awards in 2013, including best director for Ang Lee, as well as a Golden Globe. Martel also authored Beatrice and Virgil and 101 Letters to a Prime Minister, a collection of correspondence with former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In Son of Nobody, Martel weaves two stories. One follows Harlow Donne, a Ph.D. student in classics who leaves his family in Canada for a Greek translation fellowship at Oxford University. The other tracks Psoas, a commoner goatherd turned soldier known as the 'son of nobody,' whose perspective on the Trojan War appears in a fictional lost epic called The Psoad. Harlow pieces together fragments of The Psoad from ancient pottery and papers found across the former Hellenic world. Speaking to CS Monitor contributor Sky Davis, Martel explained the parallels between the protagonists' struggles: 'Most Westerners haven’t been in a war in a long time. So what accurately reflects a war in an individual’s life in the 21st century? A relationship.' He highlighted themes of anger, noting, 'The first word of The Iliad, famously, means wrath.' Martel conducted extensive research, traveling to Turkey and Greece while raising his four children. The author will discuss Son of Nobody with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols via livestream from the Sydney Writers' Festival. The event streams at Central Coast libraries including Gosford Regional, Toukley, and Umina Beach, with bookings essential.
