Philip Michael Ondaatje, born 12 September 1943, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing The Dainty Monsters, and then in 1970, the critically acclaimed The Collected Works of Billy the Kid.

His novel The English Patient (1992) was adapted into a successful film in 1996 and won the 1992 Golden Man Booker Prize. He has been a significant influence in fostering new Canadian writing with two decades of commitment to Coach House Press (around 1970–1990). His editorial credits include the journal Brick and the Long Poem Anthology (1979), among others.

Ondaatje was born to a Burgher family of Dutch-Tamil-Sinhalese-Portuguese origin and moved to England with his mother in 1954. After relocating to Canada in 1962, he became a Canadian citizen. Ondaatje studied at Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, later moving to Toronto, where he received his BA from the University of Toronto and his MA from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. From 1971 to 1988, he taught English Literature at York University and Glendon College in Toronto.