Ruth Ozeki

Ozeki was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to an American father and Japanese mother; she was ordained a Zen Buddhist priest in the Soto lineage in 2010 and has also worked as a documentary filmmaker.

Her earlier novel A Tale for the Time Being was Booker-shortlisted and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The Book of Form and Emptiness (2021), narrated in part by a mysterious talking Book that guides a grieving teenager through his mother's hoarding and his own voices, won the Women's Prize in 2022.

She holds dual American and Canadian citizenship and divides her time between New York and British Columbia.