Ruth Ozeki will read her new short story, "The Anthropologist's Kid." Books will be available for purchase and signing after the reading.
Ruth Ozeki is the Writer in Residence in the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, April 14-May 14, 2006. She is an award-winning filmmaker and novelist whose work has been characterized as "ardent and passionate;rare and provocative" by U.S.A. Today. Her first novel, My Year of Meats, published in 1998 by Viking Penguin, has garnered widespread, glowing reviews, awards, and a still-growing readership. A sexy, poignant, funny tale about global meat and media production, My Year of Meats tells the story of Jane and Akiko, two women on opposite sides of the planet, whose lives are connected by a TV cooking show. Chosen as a New York Times Notable Book, My Year of Meats has been translated into eleven languages and published in fourteen countries. It is a recipient of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize and a special Jury Prize from the World Cookbook Association in Versailles. A film is currently in development.
Ozeki's second novel, All Over Creation (Viking Penguin 2003) shifts the focus from meat to potatoes in a story of a family farmer, a prodigal daughter, a gang of environmental activists, and a corporate spin doctor, whose lives collide in Liberty Falls, Idaho. In a starred review, Kirkus called this cast of characters "most fully realized and heart-wrenching in their imperfect yearnings," and declared All Over Creation "a feast for mind and heart." Again a New York Times Notable Book, All Over Creation is the recipient of a 2004 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, as well as the Willa Literary Award for Contemporary Fiction.