Novel Dialogue Podcast with Rebecca Evans and Emily Hyde

Ruth Ozeki, whose most recent novel is The Book of Form and Emptiness, speaks with critic Rebecca Evans and guest host Emily Hyde. This is a conversation about talking books, the randomness and serendipity of library shelves, and what novelists can learn in the editing room of a movie like Mutant Hunt. Ozeki is an ordained Zen Buddhist priest, and her novels unfold as warm-hearted parables that have been stuffed full of the messiness of contemporary life. The Book of Form and Emptinesstelescopes from global supply chains to the aisles of a Michaels craft store and from a pediatric psychiatry ward to the enchanted stacks of the public library. The exigencies of environmental storytelling arch over this conversation. Evans asks Ozeki questions of craft (how to move a story through time, how to bring it to an end) that become questions of practice (how to listen to the objects stories tell, how to declutter your sock drawer). And we learn Ozeki’s theory of closure: her novels always pull together at the end so that readers are free to continue pondering the questions they raise.

March 3, 2022
Novel Dialogue Podcast | New Books Network
In the Editing Room with Ruth Ozeki and Rebecca Evans

Book Shambles with Robin Ince

Man Booker Prize shortlisted novelist Ruth Ozeki joins us this week to talk about her latest novel The Book of Form and Emptiness which is out now. They chat about how the book took eight years to write, growing up learning to love books in a public library basement, listening to the voices that guide a novel and her past life working as an art director on low budget horror movies!

February 10, 2022
Book Shambles | The Cosmic Shambles Network
Book Shambles - Ruth Ozeki

Create Out Loud Podcast with Jennifer Louden

Though she's now considered one of America's most important novelists, Ruth Ozeki didn't think of herself as a writer until her 30s. Before that, she had stumbled into a career editing schlocky, low-budget Japanese horror movies, struggling to find her way. But wisely, she knew, even then, that the experience would serve her. Because ALL experiences end up serving us in the end, right? Among other things, Ruth and Jen discuss:

3:00 - Inquiry-based creativity and writing.

7:12 - Allowing vulnerability and curious to guide our work

11:16 - Exploring self-trust.

16:14 - Understanding our readers interpret and create work.

20:21 - The profound power of storytelling.

30:31 - “Knowing your ruts.”

38:54 - Process and discipline.