Zuwena "ZZ" Packer (born January 12, 1973) is an American writer, primarily of works of short fiction. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, a Whiting Award and a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

. Her book ''Drinking Coffee Elsewhere'' won the Commonwealth First Fiction Award and an

ALEX award The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18". Since 2002, the Alex Awards have been administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of th ...

. It became a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award and was selected for the Today Show Book Club by

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

Early life and education

Born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Packer grew up in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, and

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. "ZZ" was a childhood nickname; her given name is Zuwena. Packer enjoyed reading from a young age, visiting the local library daily with her mother in Atlanta. Her writing was published in the magazine '' 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 Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, receiving her BA in 1994. Her graduate work included an MA at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1995 and an MFA from the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

of the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, 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 int ...

in 1999, where she was mentored by James Alan McPherson.

Career

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

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' in 2000. Her short story in the issue became the title story in her collection '' Drinking Coffee Elsewhere''. 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', '' Harper's'', the ''New Yorker'' and most every other branch of the

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

tree." "ZZ Packer’s ''Drinking Coffee Elsewhere'' is taught in creative writing courses nationwide 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 novelist

Colson Whitehead Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead (born November 6, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of nine novels, including his 1999 in literature, 1999 debut ''The Intuitionist''; ''The Underground Railroad (novel), The Underground Railroad'' (2016) ...

. In an interview when Packer was a Radcliffe Fellow, in 2015, she reported that she working on a

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

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 Union ...

in the aftermath of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, 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.J ...

. The novel-in-progress, ''The Thousands,'' "chronicles the lives of black, white, and Native American families shortly after the Civil War, through Reconstruction and the Indian Campaigns in the Southwest". She has been regularly contributing to ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine 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. The magazi ...

'' 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 return
The Nobel Prize Waiting Game: A Year for Long Shots?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, ZZ 21st-century American novelists 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 writers 21st-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American writers African-American women novelists