Marie Mutsuki Mockett was born in Carmel, Calif., to an American father and Japanese mother. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in East Asian Studies. Her essay, “Letter from a Japanese Crematorium,” was short listed for Best American Essays 2008 and anthologized in The Best Creative Nonfiction (Vol. 3). Her book Picking Bones from Ash was published in October by Graywolf Press; this is her first novel.
