Canadian girl out and aboot

Today I interviewed Ruth Ozeki , who as many may recall, is the author of one of my favourite books, My Year of Meats .

This book is so amazingly important to me. It was one of the first books I read that had a biracial character. In fact, I relate to this character more than I've ever related to any other fictional character. The novel is also intensely personal and political, cultural and funny. It's a social satire. I've read it several times, and get more out of it each time.

I called my mom tonight to tell her about the interview and she asked if I was nervous to talk with Ruth. To be honest, I was a bit excited, but not really nervous about meeting her. When I met her at the reading and asked her if I could interview her, she seemed warm and kind and reminded me of one of my aunts. We started off interviewing, but then ended up talking in a more casual way. At the end of the interview, I actually had to struggle not to hug her.

I was not nervous about talking to her as I felt that we had a lot in common. Obviously, we both like nature, books and writing. We have our bi-racial backgrounds in common. She is a Buddhist and we have similar politics. I also knew that she would have a good sense of humour since there is a lot of humour in her books. So all in all, I felt confident that she'd be easy to talk to and we'd have lots to chat about.

Interesting things I learned- She is becoming a Canadian citizen, she's on the board of Women Make Movies, and she still eats meat. (That's only funny if you've read "My year of Meats.") She told me that I look a bit like Audrey Tatou and she was very fascinated by my time in Mongolia. She's married to Canadian artist Oliver Kellhammer, who is a permaculturist , which means he specializes in sustainable agriculture and agricultural design. He also creates public art installations and is now doing his MFA. So all in all, it was a lovely meeting and I left with a good feeling.