I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!
Today we are joined by Roie Oknin. Roie is a writer, artist and medical student. He holds a BSc in Neuroscience and a BA in Psychology and works as a research assistant in ophthalmology. Ramen, Existential Crises is his first novel.
Why do you write?
I think I write for the same reason I make
anything. I like taking something that only exists in my head and giving it
form. Writing also lets me spend an unreasonable amount of time thinking about
very small things, which suits me quite well, as an overthinker.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I enjoy far too many things. My personal motto is
trying to unlock the 25th hour of the day. I paint, sculpt, take photographs,
travel, hike, play the piano, code, and generally start more projects than I
have hours to finish. I’m also a medical student and work as a research
assistant in ophthalmology. I drink plenty of coffee.
Describe your book poorly.
Several people work in a shop. One of them is
extremely bad at making decisions. Noodles are involved.
If you met your characters in real life, what would you say
to them?
No spoilers, but: “It’s going to be alright.”
(Or is it?)
Would you and your main character(s) get along?
I think Koji and I would get along very well,
which is probably not an entirely reassuring thing to admit.
If you could spend the day with another author, who would
you choose and why?
Dead or alive? Dostoevsky. I’d like to know
what he was like when he wasn’t being Dostoevsky. I’d probably spend half the
day asking him questions about his masterpieces, and the other half
trying to find out whether he was actually enjoyable company.
What are some of your favorite books and/or authors?
Dostoevsky is one of my favourites, especially Notes from Underground.
I also love Camus, Kafka, Beckett and Virginia Woolf. I’m drawn to absurdism,
stream of consciousness writing, and contemporary Japanese writers such as
Banana Yoshimoto, Sayaka Murata and Mieko Kawakami, to name a few.
What are you currently reading?
Nipponia Nippon by
Kazushige Abe.
What’s the single best line you’ve ever read?
I know, I know, it’s an obvious one, but I have to
go with the opening of Anna Karenina: “All happy families are
alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
What would you do if you could live forever?
Eventually, I’d try to win every prize there is.
The Nobel, an EGOT, everything. Given an infinite amount of time, even the
statistically improbable is inevitable. I’d also finally have enough time for
all my hobbies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 8, 2026
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HDFG28SF
Koji is twenty-seven and one module short of a
degree in Politics and Government. The missing module is Crisis Management. It
feels appropriate.
For six years, he has worked in a tiny ramen shop
with eleven seats, one dish and a broth whose flame has not gone out in
thirty-two years. The noodles cook for exactly eighty-five seconds.
Then the timer fails. A stranger gives Koji his
business card. Someone from his past walks into the restaurant. Around him,
other people make decisions and continue with their lives.
Koji has always known what should be done.
Doing it is another matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment