Zuwena "ZZ" Packer (b. January 12, 1973) is an American writer. She is primarily known for her works of

short fiction A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Early life and education

Born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Packer grew up in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, and

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. "ZZ" was a childhood nickname; her given name is Zuwena. She was recognized as a talented writer at an early age, publishing in '' Seventeen'' at the age of 19. Packer is a 1990 graduate of Seneca High School, in Louisville, Kentucky. Packer attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, where she received her BA in 1994. Her graduate work included an MA at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

in 1995 and an MFA from the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...

of the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

in 1999, where she was mentored by

James Alan McPherson James Alan McPherson (September 16, 1943 – July 27, 2016) was an American essayist and short-story writer. He was the first African-American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and was included among the first group of artists who re ...

Career

Her work was first published in the Debut Fiction issue of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' in 2000. Her short story in the issue became the title story in her collection ''

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere ''Drinking Coffee Elsewhere'' is a 2003 collection of eight short stories by ZZ Packer. Packer was given an advance for thousands of dollars and she promoted the book in a 13 city tour. The book deals with race, gender, identity, and the need for ...

''. As ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' put it, "this debut short story collection is getting the highest of accolades from the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', '' Harper's'', the ''New Yorker'' and most every other branch of the literary criticism tree." "ZZ Packer’s ''Drinking Coffee Elsewhere'' is taught in creative writing courses across the country and with good reason. This short story collection is brimming with characters who are striving to find themselves, to understand themselves, and to survive", commented Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist

Colson Whitehead Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead (born November 6, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of eight novels, including his 1999 debut work '' The Intuitionist''; '' The Underground Railroad'' (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Awar ...

. Packer is currently working on a novel set during

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

in the aftermath of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

: "The subject is the

Buffalo Soldiers Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in t ...

; blacks who left the South, Louisiana in this case, and traveled to the West. You don't hear much about blacks in the West and I became really fascinated by them. I thought to justify my interest I had better write about them." A short excerpt from the novel was published in ''

'' magazine's "20 under 40" issue.ZZ Packer
"Dayward"
''The New Yorker'', June 14, 2010. She has been regularly contributing to ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'' and ''

''.

Works

Books

Anthologies

Other works

Awards

Other honors

Teaching

Fellowships

References

External links

Profile at The Whiting Foundation
* ttps://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/03/plotting-her-return/ Plotting her returnbr>The Nobel Prize Waiting Game: A Year for Long Shots?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, ZZ 21st-century American novelists African-American women writers African-American novelists American women novelists American women short story writers Pseudonymous women writers American historical novelists Johns Hopkins University alumni Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Writers from Atlanta University of Iowa alumni Yale University alumni 1973 births Living people Baltimore City College faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni People from Pacifica, California Writers from Chicago Radcliffe fellows 21st-century American women writers Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award winners Seneca High School (Louisville, Kentucky) alumni 21st-century American short story writers PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Novelists from California Novelists from Kentucky Novelists from Illinois Novelists from Iowa Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) Stegner Fellows 21st-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women