A short life of the author
Ruth Ozeki (b. 12 March 1956) was born Ruth Lounsbury in New Haven, Connecticut, to a Japanese mother and an American father. She studied English and Asian Studies at Smith College, and is a Zen Buddhist priest in the Soto tradition.
Life and Career
My Year of Meats (1998) — about a Japanese-American filmmaker making a documentary about American beef for Japanese television, who uncovers the hormones and antibiotics in the U.S. meat industry — is her debut: funny, angry, and deeply researched.
A Tale for the Time Being (2013) — about a Japanese-American writer on a Canadian island who finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the beach containing the diary of a Japanese schoolgirl — was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It weaves together Zen Buddhism, quantum physics, kamikaze pilots, and Japanese schoolgirl bullying. The Book of Form and Emptiness (2021) — about a boy who hears objects speak after his father’s death — won the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Major Works and Themes
Ozeki writes about the interconnection of all things — food systems, Buddhist philosophy, environmental activism, and the relationship between reader and writer. Her novels are warm, intellectually curious, and structurally inventive.
Key Works
- A Tale for the Time Being (2013)
- The Book of Form and Emptiness (2021)
Collecting Ozeki
A Tale for the Time Being first edition (Viking, 2013) signed copies bring $30–$80. Ozeki continues to publish.