The Distance of a Shout Hardcover by Michael Ondaatje

Product Details

• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart (2026-02-24)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 240 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780771030710
• Item Weight: 459.27 grams
• Dimensions: 23.7 x 15.95 x 2.57 cm

One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2026

A one-of-a-kind collection gathering fifty years of poetry by one of our most cherished authors.

In The Distance of a Shout, Michael Ondaatje has assembled some of his finest poems into a singular poetic memoir that invokes the arc of his own journey over fifty years. 

     Through poems that grow out of his profound understanding of how we lose and find ourselves, Michael Ondaatje navigates his own past, beginning with memories of his childhood in Sri Lanka and his eccentric family, to his life in rural southern Ontario with its beloved rivers, celebrations of treasured friends, the close ties of children. We follow him through the exhilarations of youth and into that “storm of music,” the passionate swerves of longing and desire, until we reach the calm of that moment when, with “only a cloud’s reflection holding you up, You swim into late afternoon.”

   The Distance of a Shout offers us a glimpse into the interwoven life and art of one of our most cherished poets and novelists—and is itself a reminder of the power of poetry to shine a light on living.

About the Author

MICHAEL ONDAATJE is the author of seven novels, including Coming Through Slaughter, The Cat’s Table, and Warlight; a memoir, Running in the Family; a nonfiction book on film-editing, The Conversations; and several books of poetry, including The Cinnamon Peeler, Handwriting, and most recently, A Year of Last Things. Among the many international accolades for all his work, The English Patient received the Booker Prize in 1992 and was made into an Academy Award-winning film. Born in Sri Lanka, Michael Ondaatje lives in Toronto.