C Pam Zhang
{{short description|Chinese American writer}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
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| birth_place = Beijing, China
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| notable_works = {{Unbulleted list | How Much of These Hills Is Gold (2020) | Land of Milk and Honey (2023) }}
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C Pam Zhang (born 1990) is an American writer. Her debut novel, How Much of These Hills Is Gold, was released by Riverhead Books in 2020 and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction and longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize; she was named a "5 Under 35" writer by the National Book Foundation subsequent to its release. Her second novel, Land of Milk and Honey, was released in 2023.
Early life and education
Zhang was born in Beijing in 1990{{Cite web|title=About|url=https://cpamzhang.com/about|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-12|website=C Pam Zhang|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112024545/https://cpamzhang.com/about |archive-date=2022-01-12 }}{{cite magazine |last=Bansinath |first=Bindu |date=September 19, 2023 |title='I Don't Like the Feeling of Being Pinned Down' |url=https://www.thecut.com/2023/09/c-pam-zhang-author-land-of-milk-and-honey-book-interview.html |magazine=The Cut |accessdate=October 17, 2024}} and moved to the United States when she was four years old. While growing up, Zhang moved to ten new homes by the time she was eighteen.{{cite news|last1=de León|first1=Concepción|date=April 4, 2020|title=How a Chinese-American Novelist Wrote Herself Into the Wild West|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/books/c-pam-zhang-how-much-of-these-hills-is-gold.html|access-date=May 21, 2020|archive-date=June 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615222750/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/books/c-pam-zhang-how-much-of-these-hills-is-gold.html|url-status=live}}
She attended Brown University and studied at Cambridge University.{{Cite web |title=Seven writers with Iowa ties earn prestigious literary honors |url=https://writersworkshop.uiowa.edu/news/2021/04/seven-writers-iowa-ties-earn-prestigious-literary-honors |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240723223057/https://writersworkshop.uiowa.edu/news/2021/04/seven-writers-iowa-ties-earn-prestigious-literary-honors |archive-date=2024-07-23 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Writers' Workshop - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences {{!}} The University of Iowa |language=en}} Zhang was a 2017 Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Career
= ''How Much of These Hills Is Gold'' =
Zhang's debut novel, How Much of These Hills Is Gold, published in 2020, follows two recently orphaned children of immigrants on the run, trying not just to survive but to find a home. The novel is set against the twilight of the American gold rush.{{cite web |title=How Much of These Hills Is Gold |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576912/how-much-of-these-hills-is-gold-by-c-pam-zhang/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219174853/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576912/how-much-of-these-hills-is-gold-by-c-pam-zhang/ |archive-date=February 19, 2023 |accessdate=May 21, 2020 |publisher=Penguin Random House}} How Much of These Hills Is Gold is inspired by Zhang's childhood of moving homes often. It reckons with the grief she experienced after losing her father when she was twenty-two.
The New York Times said, "C Pam Zhang’s arresting, beautiful first novel is filled with myths of her own making as well as sorrows and joys."{{cite news |last1=Southgate |first1=Martha |date=April 7, 2020 |title=A Haunting Debut Novel Brings New Faces to the Myth of the American West |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/books/review/how-much-of-these-hills-is-gold-c-pam-zhang.html |newspaper=The New York Times}}
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Zhang's novel is a "a fully immersive epic drama packed with narrative riches and exquisitely crafted prose … . Zhang captures not only the mesmeric beauty and storied history of America's sacred landscape, but also the harsh sacrifices countless people were forced to make in hopes of laying claim to its bounty."{{Cite news |last=Popescu |first=Lucy |date=2023-11-05 |title=Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang review – an intriguing tale of post-apocalyptic cuisine |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/05/land-of-milk-and-honey-by-c-pam-zhang-review-an-intriguing-tale-of-post-apocalyptic-cuisine |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}
Zhang has been awarded support from Tin House, Bread Loaf, and Aspen Words.{{cite web |title=C Pam Zhang |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2172652/c-pam-zhang/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521230817/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2172652/c-pam-zhang/ |archive-date=2020-05-21 |access-date=2020-05-21 |publisher=Penguin Random House}} In 2020, Zhang was nominated for the Booker Prize.{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Alex |date=July 27, 2020 |title=Hilary Mantel, Kiley Reid, Anne Tyler in Running for Booker Prize |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/books/hilary-mantel-booker-prize-longlist.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802004715/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/books/hilary-mantel-booker-prize-longlist.html |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |access-date=August 2, 2020 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The same year, Zhang was named a National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" Honoree.{{Cite web |title=C Pam Zhang |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/people/c-pam-zhang/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525194502/https://www.nationalbook.org/people/c-pam-zhang/ |archive-date=2021-05-25 |access-date=2021-05-25 |website=National Book Foundation |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalists |url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/current-finalists/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513083951/https://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/current-finalists/ |archive-date=2021-05-13 |access-date=2021-05-25 |website=Lambda Literary |language=en}}
= ''Land of Milk and Honey'' =
Zhang's second novel, Land of Milk and Honey, published in 2023, is set in a near-future ecological crisis where a global smog has wiped out biodiversity and collapsed agriculture.{{cite news |last=Moss |first=Sarah |title=Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang review – food, sex and morality in the end times |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/29/land-of-milk-and-honey-by-c-pam-zhang-review-food-sex-and-morality-in-the-end-times |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 September 2023}}{{cite news |last=Kleeman |first=Alexandra |title=Book Review: 'Land of Milk and Honey,' by C Pam Zhang |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/books/review/c-pam-zhang-land-of-milk-and-honey.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=21 September 2023}}
The protagonist, a 29-year-old unnamed Asian American chef, leaves collapsed England to work in a secluded elite research facility in the Italian Alps.{{cite news |last=Corrigan |first=Maureen |title='Land of Milk and Honey' review: C Pam Zhang serves up a dystopian suspense |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/09/26/1201528596/land-of-milk-and-honey-review-c-pam-zhang |newspaper=NPR |date=26 September 2023}}
The mountain enclave, owned by a reclusive capitalist, is one of the few places where food still grows. It serves as both a biobank and a sanctuary for investors and scientists developing genetically engineered plants and animals.{{cite news |last=Charles |first=Ron |title='Land of Milk and Honey' is a gourmand’s dream, and nightmare |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/09/27/land-of-milk-and-honey-cpam-zhang-book-review/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=27 September 2023}} The chef is hired to prepare elaborate meals from rare and extinct ingredients for wealthy backers. Her culinary work is used to evoke emotion and secure financial support.
The novel explores moral dilemmas about resource hoarding, scientific elitism, and survival amid collapse.
The book was listed in The New York Times 100 Notable Books for 2023.{{Cite news |last=Staff |first=The New York Times Books |date=2023-11-21 |title=100 Notable Books of 2023 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/21/books/notable-books.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126000045/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/21/books/notable-books.html |archive-date=2023-11-26 |access-date=2023-11-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} It was longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.{{Cite web |title=2024 Longlist |url=https://carolshieldsprizeforfiction.com/2024-longlist |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Carol Shields Prize for Fiction |language=en-CA}}
Awards
Selected texts
- {{cite book|first=C Pam|last=Zhang|author-mask=2|title=How Much of These Hills Is Gold|year=2020|publisher=Riverhead|location=New York|isbn=9780593189290}}
- {{cite book|first=C Pam|last=Zhang|author-mask=2|title=Land of Milk and Honey|year=2023|publisher=Riverhead|location=New York|isbn=9780593538241}}{{Cite news |last=Kleeman |first=Alexandra |date=2023-09-21 |title=A Lush Novel at the Nexus of Food, Pleasure, Wealth and Catastrophe |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/books/review/c-pam-zhang-land-of-milk-and-honey.html |access-date=2023-10-14 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2023-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013211856/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/books/review/c-pam-zhang-land-of-milk-and-honey.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite magazine |date=2023-09-25 |title=C Pam Zhang on Relishing Pleasure, Observing Billionaires, and Writing a Love Story |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/09/c-pam-zhang-on-relishing-pleasure-observing-billionaires-and-writing-a-love-story |access-date=2023-10-14 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014181646/https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/09/c-pam-zhang-on-relishing-pleasure-observing-billionaires-and-writing-a-love-story |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Bansinath |first=Bindu |date=2023-09-19 |title="I Don't Like the Feeling of Being Pinned Down" |url=https://www.thecut.com/2023/09/c-pam-zhang-author-land-of-milk-and-honey-book-interview.html |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=The Cut |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://cpamzhang.com/ Official website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, C Pam}}
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American writers of Chinese descent
Category:American women novelists
Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States
Category:Brown University alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge