Ruth Ozeki is an American-Canadian author, filmmaker and

Zen Buddhist Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

priest. Her books and films, including the novels ''

My Year of Meats ''My Year of Meats'' is the 1998 debut novel by Ruth Ozeki. The book takes advantage of the differences between Japanese and American culture to comment on both. Overview Jane Takagi-Little is a Japanese-American documentary filmmaker who is hi ...

'' (1998), ''

All Over Creation ''All Over Creation'' is a novel by Ruth Ozeki about Yumi Fuller, the Japanese-American daughter of a potato farmer in Idaho who returns home as an adult to care for her parents, Lloyd and Momoko, and stumbles into the growing controversy around g ...

'' (2003), '' A Tale for the Time Being'' (2013), and ''

The Book of Form and Emptiness ''The Book of Form and Emptiness'' is a novel by American author Ruth Ozeki, published in 2021 by Viking. Ozeki's fourth novel, the book won the 2022 Women's Prize for Fiction. The story follows a boy who hears voices from inanimate objects while ...

'' (2021) seek to integrate personal narrative and social issues, and deal with themes relating to science, technology, environmental politics, race, religion, war and global popular culture. Her novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. She teaches creative writing at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

where she is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities in the Department of English Language and Literature. Her real name is Ruth Diana Lounsbury. Ozeki is a pseudonym, taken from her former boyfriend's last name.

Early life and education

Ozeki was born on March 12, 1956. She grew up in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, and is the daughter of the American linguist, anthropologist and

Mayanist A Mayanist ( es, mayista) is a scholar specialising in research and study of the Mesoamerican pre-Columbian Maya civilisation. This discipline should not be confused with Mayanism, a collection of New Age beliefs about the ancient Maya. Mayan ...

scholar,

Floyd Lounsbury Floyd Glenn Lounsbury (April 25, 1914 – May 14, 1998) was an American linguist, anthropologist and Mayanist scholar and epigrapher, best known for his work on linguistic and cultural systems of a variety of North and South American languages. ...

, and linguist Masako Yokoyama. In 1980, she graduated from

with a B.A. in English and Asian Studies, and upon graduation, she received a Japanese Ministry of Education Fellowship ( Monbukagakusho) to do graduate work at Nara University.

Career

Film and television

In 1985, Ozeki moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and began working as an art director and production designer for low-budget horror movies, including ''Mutant Hunt'' (1987) and ''

Robot Holocaust ''Robot Holocaust'' is a 1987 post-apocalyptic science fiction film written and directed by Tim Kincaid, and produced by Charles Band. Plot After society was almost destroyed in a robot rebellion in 2033, the remnants are either slaves to the Dar ...

'' (1986). In 1988, she began working for Telecom Staff, a Japanese production company, coordinating, producing and directing documentary-style programs for Japanese TV. During this time, she directed episodes of ''See the World by Train'' and co-produced the pilot for the TV documentary miniseries ''Fishing With John'' (1991), starring musician

John Lurie John Lurie (born December 14, 1952) is an American musician, painter, actor, director, and producer. He co-founded the Lounge Lizards jazz ensemble; has acted in 19 films, including ''Stranger than Paradise'' and '' Down by Law''; has composed ...

and director Jim Jarmusch. Ozeki's first film, ''Body of Correspondence'' (1994), made in collaboration with artist

Marina Zurkow Marina G. Zurkow (born December 19, 1962) is an American visual artist based in New York City who works with media technology, animation and video. Some of the less traditional mediums are known to be dinners, life science and bio materials. Her s ...

won the New Visions Award at the San Francisco Film Festival and was aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

. Her second film, ''

Halving the Bones ''Halving the Bones'' is a documentary written, produced, and directed by author Ruth Ozeki. The film is shot in color/black-and-white and runs 70 minutes in length. The film premiered in 1995 in film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival, ...

'' (1995), tells the autobiographical story of Ozeki's journey as she brings her grandmother's remains home from Japan. It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, and screened at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, the

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Internat ...

, and the

Margaret Mead Film Festival The Margaret Mead Film Festival is an annual film festival held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spe ...

, among others.

Writing

Ozeki's debut novel ''

(''

Viking Penguin Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

, 1998), based on her work in Japanese television, tells the story of two women, living on opposite sides of the world, whose lives are connected by a TV cooking show. ''My Year of Meats'' was awarded the 1998

Kiriyama Prize The Kiriyama Prize was an international literary award awarded to books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Its goal was to encourage greater understanding among the peoples and nations of the region. Established in 1996, the prize was last awa ...

and the 1998 Imus/Barnes & Noble American Book Award. Her second novel, ''

'' (Viking Penguin, 2003), focuses on a potato-farming family in Idaho and an environmental activist group opposing the use of

GMOs A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...

. Author

Michael Pollan Michael Kevin Pollan (; born February 6, 1955) is an American author and journalist, who is currently Professor of the Practice Non-Fiction and the first Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer at Harvard University. Concurrently, he is the Knight Professo ...

called ''All Over Creation'' "a smart compelling novel about a world we don't realize we live in." ''All Over Creation'' received the 2003 WILLA Literary Award for Contemporary Fiction and the 2004

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

from the Before Columbus Foundation. Ozeki's 2013 novel, '' A Tale for the Time Being'' (Viking Penguin) tells the story of a mysterious diary written by a troubled schoolgirl in Tokyo that's washed ashore on the Pacific Northwest coast of Canada in the wake of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The diary is discovered by a novelist named Ruth, who becomes obsessed with discovering the girl's fate.

Junot Diaz Junot is a French name that may refer to the following notable people: ;Given name *Junot Díaz (born 1968), Dominican American ;Surname * Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes (1784–1838), French writer * Jean-Andoche Junot, 1st Duke of Abrantès (17 ...

called this novel Ozeki's "absolute best—bewitching, intelligent, hilarious, and heartbreaking, often on the same page." The novel was awarded the 2013 ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize for Fiction, and named the first recipient of the 2015

Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award The Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award is an annual all-Russian literary award that was founded in 2003 by the Leo Tolstoy Museum Estate and Samsung Electronics. The award is presented for the best traditional-style novel written in Russian or trans ...

(founded by the Leo Tolstoy Museum & Estate and

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of ...

) for the Best Foreign Novel of the 21st century. The book has received several other national and international awards, and has been published in more than thirty countries. In her first work of personal nonfiction, ''The Face: A Time Code'' (Restless Books, 2016), Ozeki writes about a three-hour observation experiment, in which she studied her reflection in a mirror and kept a log of thoughts that arose during that time. ''The Face: A Time Code'' was published as part of Restless Books' groundbreaking series, ''The Face,'' featuring authors

Tash Aw Tash Aw, whose full name is Aw Ta-Shi (; born 4 October 1971) is a Malaysian writer living in London. Biography Born in 1971 in Taipei, Taiwan, to Malaysian parents, Tash Aw returned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the age of two, and grew up t ...

and Chris Abani. In 2021, Ozeki released her fourth novel ''

''. About a 14-year-old boy who begins to hear voices emanating from things in the house after the death of his father, the book won the

Women's Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

in June 2022.

Teaching

From 1982 through 1985, Ozeki taught in the English department at

Kyoto Sangyo University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan. History The university was established in 1965. The founder was Toshima Araki (, 1897–1978), and Hideo Iwakuro (岩畔豪雄 Iwakuro Hideo, 10 October 1897 – 22 November 1970), the Japanese spy ...

and founded an English language school in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, Japan. Currently, she is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities in the Department of English Language and Literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Zen

Ozeki was ordained as a

Soto Zen Soto may refer to: Geography *Soto (Aller), parish in Asturias, Spain * Soto (Las Regueras), parish in Asturias, Spain * Soto, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles *Soto, Russia, a rural locality (a ''selo'') in Megino-Kangalassky District of the Sakha ...

Buddhist priest in 2010; she practices

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

with

Zoketsu Norman Fischer Zoketsu Norman Fischer is an American poet, writer, and Sōtō, Soto Zen priest, teaching and practicing in the lineage of Shunryū Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Mel Weitsman, Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma trans ...

. She is the editor of the website Everyday Zen.

Personal life

Ozeki divides her time among Northampton, Massachusetts; New York, New York; and

Cortes Island Cortes Island is an island in the Discovery Islands archipelago on the coast of British Columbia, Canada. The island is long, wide, and in area. It has a population of 1,035 permanent residents (2016 census). Cortes Island lies within Electora ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. She is married to the German-Canadian environmental artist Oliver Kellhammer, who teaches on the faculty of Sustainable Systems at Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Awards and honors (selected)

* 2022:

winner for ''The Book of Form and Emptiness.'' * 2015:

for Foreign Literature, from The Leo Tolstoy Museum and Estate, for ''A Tale for the Time Being''. Ozeki was the first international recipient of this award. * 2015: International IMPAC Dublin Award (Fiction) longlist for ''A Tale for the Time Being'' * 2014:

Dos Passos Prize The John Dos Passos Prize is an annual literary award given to American writers. The Prize was founded at Longwood University in 1980 and is meant to honor John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) w ...

for ''A Tale for the Time Being'' * 2014:

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

shortlist for ''A Tale for the Time Being''. Ozeki was the first practicing Zen Buddhist priest to be shortlisted for the Man Booker. * 2013: ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize (Fiction) winner for ''A Tale for the Time Being'' * 2013: Kitschies Red Tentacle Prize (UK) for ''A Tale for the Time Being'' * 2004:

for ''

'' *2003:

WILLA Literary Award WILLA Literary Award honors outstanding literature featuring women's stories, set in the Western United States, published each year. Women Writing the West (WWW), a non-profit association of writers and other professionals writing and promoting the ...

for Contemporary Fiction for ''All Over Creation'' *1998:

for ''

'' *1998: Imus/Barnes & Noble American Book Award for ''My Year of Meats'' *1994: International Documentary Association's Distinguished Achievement Award for ''Halving the Bones'' *1994: Kodak Award for Creative Use of Cinematography for ''Halving the Bones'' *1994: San Francisco Film & Video Festival, New Visions Award for ''Body of Correspondence''

Works

Novels

* * * *

Autobiography

Films

* *

Anthologies (selected)

* * * *

References

External links

* *
Author Interviews: Ruth Ozeki
(from Ozeki's website) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ozeki, Ruth 1956 births 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American Book Award winners American expatriates in Japan American novelists of Asian descent American women writers of Asian descent American women novelists American writers of Japanese descent American Zen Buddhists Canadian people of Japanese descent Living people Novelists from Connecticut Smith College alumni Writers from New Haven, Connecticut Zen Buddhist priests