Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Marie Mutsuki Mockett, a writer of fiction and nonfiction, was born to an American father and Japanese mother. American Harvest: God, Country and Farming in the Heartland (Graywolf) won the 2021 Northern Californian Book Award for General Nonfiction and follows Mockett’s journey through seven heartland states in the company of evangelical Christian harvesters, while examining the role of GMOs, God, agriculture, and race in society. Her memoir, “Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye,” examines grief against the backdrop of the 2011 Great East Earthquake in Japan and was a finalist for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award, Indies Choice Best Book for Nonfiction and the Northern California Book Award for Creative Nonfiction. A novel, The Tree Doctor is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2023, and a collection of essays, How to Be a Californian, will follow. She lives in northern California with her family.
“You must not become a silly creature ... relying on other people to tell you what is valuable and what is not...the most important thing in life is to be able to see things as they really are.”
“It is very easy to convince yourself that you have done something correctly if you never pay attention to what else you might have done in the first place. (Satomi from Picking Bones From Ash)”
“My mother always told me that there is only one way a woman can be truly safe in this world. And that is to be fiercely, inarguably, and masterfully talented. This is different than being intelligent or even educated. (Satomi from Picking Bones From Ash)”
“…you look like a loved person. It always shows on people’s faces. The ones who discover love when they are much older always look startled. The loved ones expect it from other people.”