michael w. punke (born december 7, 1964) is an american writer, novelist, professor, policy analyst, policy consultant, attorney, and former deputy united states trade representative and us ambassador to the world trade organization in geneva, switzerland. he is currently the vice president of public policy for amazon web services. he is best known for writing "the revenant: a novel of revenge" (2002), which was adapted into film as "the revenant" (2015), directed by alejandro gonzález iñárritu, with a screenplay by iñárritu and mark l. smith, and starring leonardo dicaprio and tom hardy.