Ruth Ozeki (born March 12, 1956) is an American-Canadian author, filmmaker and
Zen Buddhist
Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
priest. Her books and films, including the novels '' My Year of Meats'' (1998), '' All Over Creation'' (2003), '' A Tale for the Time Being'' (2013), and '' The Book of Form and Emptiness'' (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, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
, where she is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities in the Department of English Language and Literature.
Early life and education
Ozeki was born on March 12, 1956. She grew up in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
, and is the daughter of the American linguist, anthropologist and Mayanist scholar Floyd Lounsbury and the linguist Masako Yokoyama. In 1980, she graduated from
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, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
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 Women's University.
Career
Film and television
In 1985, Ozeki moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and began working as an art director and production designer for low-budget horror movies, including ''Mutant Hunt'' (1987) and '' Robot Holocaust'' (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
James Robert Jarmusch ( ; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter and musician.
He has been a major proponent of independent film, independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films such as ''Stranger Than Paradise'' ...
. Ozeki's first film, ''Body of Correspondence'' (1994), made in collaboration with artist Marina Zurkow, 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 broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
. Ozeki's second film, '' Halving the Bones'' (1995), tells the autobiographical story of her 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 is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
, 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 (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
, the
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Margaret Mead Film Festival, among others.
Writing
Ozeki's debut novel '' My Year of Meats ('' Viking Penguin, 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 awar ...
and the 1998 Imus/Barnes & Noble American Book Award. Her second novel, '' All Over Creation'' (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 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 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
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
that has 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 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 (founded by the Leo Tolstoy Museum & Estate and
Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEC; stylized as SΛMSUNG; ) is a South Korean multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation founded on 13 January 1969 and headquartered in Yeongtong District, Suwon, South Korea. It is curr ...
) 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 Malaysians, Malaysian parents, Tash Aw returned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the age of two, ...
and Chris Abani.
In 2021, Ozeki released her fourth novel '' The Book of Form and Emptiness''. 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 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...
in June 2022.
Teaching
From 1982 through 1985, Ozeki taught in the English department at Kyoto Sangyo University and founded an English language school in
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
, 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 Buddhist priest in 2010; she practices
Zen
Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
Northampton
Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
; 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 Electo ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
. She is married to the German-Canadian environmental artist Oliver Kellhammer, who teaches on the faculty of Sustainable Systems at
Parsons School of Design
The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...
in New York City.
Her legal name is Ruth Diana Lounsbury. Ozeki is a nom de plume, taken from her former boyfriend's last name, and chosen to better represent her mixed ethnic heritage.
Awards and honors (selected)
* 1994:
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Film ...
'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''
* 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 awar ...
for '' My Year of Meats''
* 1998: Imus/Barnes & Noble American Book Award for ''My Year of Meats''
* 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 th ...
Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...
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''
* 2014: Canada-Japan Literary Award for ''A Tale for the Time Being''
* 2014: Dos Passos Prize for ''A Tale for the Time Being''
* 2014: Medici Book Club Prize 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".Sunburst Award for ''A Tale for the Time Being''
* 2015:
International Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...
longlist for ''A Tale for the Time Being''
* 2015: Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award for ''A Tale for the Time Being''. Ozeki was the first international recipient of this award.
* 2022:
Women's Prize for Fiction
The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...