ZZ Packer

{{short description|American writer}}

{{update|date=January 2022}}

{{Infobox writer

| image = Zz packer 2009.jpg

| imagesize = 200px

| name = ZZ Packer

| caption =ZZ Packer at the 2009 Texas Book Festival.

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Zuwena Packer

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|1|12|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation =

| period = 2000-present

| genre =

| subject =

| movement =

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| signature =

| website =

}}

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. Her book Drinking Coffee Elsewhere won the Commonwealth First Fiction Award and an ALEX award.{{Cite web |title=2004 Alex Awards {{!}} Young Adult Library Services Association |url=https://www.ala.org/yalsa/2004-alex-awards |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=www.ala.org |language=en}} It became a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award and was selected for the Today Show Book Club by John Updike.{{Cite web |title=ZZ Packer {{!}} Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs |url=https://home.watson.brown.edu/people/faculty/senior-fellows/alumni/zz-packer |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=home.watson.brown.edu |language=en}}

Early life and education

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Packer grew up in Atlanta, Georgia,{{Cite web |title=ZZ Packer reading kicks off renowned authors series {{!}} Emory University {{!}} Atlanta GA |url=https://news.emory.edu/stories/2016/10/er_zz_packer/index.html |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=news.emory.edu |language=en}} and Louisville, Kentucky. "ZZ" was a childhood nickname; her given name is Zuwena.{{Cite web |last=Birnbaum |first=Robert |date=2003-04-29 |title=ZZ Packer - Identity Theory |url=https://www.identitytheory.com/zz-packer/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=www.identitytheory.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryauth0221unse |title=Contemporary Authors: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields |date=2004 |publisher=Gale |isbn=978-0-7876-6701-6 |editor-last=Kumar |editor-first=Lisa |series=Gale eBooks |volume=221 |location=Detroit, Mich |pages=xv, 366-368 |issn=0010-7468}} 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.{{Cite book |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191872112.001.0001/acref-9780191872112 |title=The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-187211-2 |editor-last=Hart |editor-first=James D. |edition=2 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780191872112.001.0001 |editor-last2=Martin |editor-first2=Wendy |editor-last3=Hinrichs |editor-first3=Danielle}}

Packer attended Yale University, receiving her BA in 1994. Her graduate work included an MA at Johns Hopkins University in 1995 and an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop of the University of Iowa in 1999, where she was mentored by James Alan McPherson.{{Cite web |date=2023-04-05 |title=Member Bonus: ZZ Packer on the Life and Work of James Alan McPherson |url=https://ursastory.com/member-bonus-zz-packer-james-alan-mcpherson/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=Ursa Story Company |language=en-US}}

Career

Her work was first published in the Debut Fiction issue of The New Yorker in 2000. Her short story in the issue became the title story in her collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. As Publishers Weekly put it, "this debut short story collection is getting the highest of accolades from the New York Times, Harper's, the New Yorker and most every other branch of the literary criticism tree."[http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?z=y&ean=9781573223782&displayonly=REV#REV "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere"], Barnes & Noble.

"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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bookbub.com/blog/recommendations-from-pulitzer-prize-winners|title=10 Books Recommended by Pulitzer Prize Winners|website=www.bookbub.com}}

In an interview when Packer was a Radcliffe Fellow, in 2015, she reported that she working on a novel set during Reconstruction in the aftermath of the Civil War.{{Cite news |last=Walsh |first=Colleen |date=2015-03-20 |title=Plotting Her Return |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/03/plotting-her-return/ |work=The Harvard Gazette}} 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".{{Cite web |date=2016-10-03 |title=Video: ZZ Packer |url=https://www.pw.org/content/zz_packer |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=Poets & Writers |language=en}} She has been regularly contributing to The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker.

Works

= Books =

class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Title

2003

|Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

= Anthologies =

class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Title

2000

|Best American Short Stories 2000The Best American Short Stories 2000

2003

|Best American Short Stories 2003Best American Short Stories 2003

2008

|New Stories from the South: The Year's BestDavid Austin Gura, [http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/zz-packers-edition-of-southern-stories-straddles-old-and-new-dixie/Content?oid=1210382 "ZZ Packer's edition of Southern stories straddles old and new Dixie"], Indy Week. August 20, 2008.

2015

|100 Years of the Best American Short Stories{{Cite web|last= |first= |date=2015-10-09|title=Review: '100 Years of Best American Short Stories' is vital yet flawed for loading the canon|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-best-short-stories-20151011-story.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}

== Other works ==

class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Title

!Publication

1999

|Brownies

|Harper's Magazine{{Cite magazine|date=1999-11-01|title=[Fiction] Brownies, By ZZ Packer|url=https://harpers.org/archive/1999/11/brownies/|access-date=2020-12-06|magazine=Harper's Magazine|volume=November 1999|language=en|last1=Packer|first1=Z. Z.}}

2000

|Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

|The New Yorker{{Cite magazine|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|title=Drinking Coffee Elsewhere|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/06/19/drinking-coffee-elsewhere|access-date=2020-12-06|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}

2002

|The Ant of the Self

|The New Yorker{{Cite magazine|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|title=The Ant of the Self|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/11/25/the-ant-of-the-self|access-date=2020-12-06|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}

2002

|Every Tongue Shall Confess

|Ploughshares{{Cite web|title=Fall 2002 {{!}} Ploughshares|url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/fall-2002|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.pshares.org}}

2002

|The Stranger

|The Washington Post Magazine{{Cite news|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|date=2002-07-14|title=The Stranger|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2002/07/14/the-stranger/4e50f288-99e4-4939-89cc-c932421fa8af/|access-date=2020-12-06|issn=0190-8286}}

2004

|Derby Pie

|The New York Times Magazine{{Cite web|date=2004-10-17|title=Derby Pie (Published 2004)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/derby-pie.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en}}

2004

|An Interview with John Kerry

|The Believer Magazine{{Cite web|date=2004-10-01|title=An Interview with John Kerry|url=https://believermag.com/an-interview-with-john-kerry/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Believer Magazine|language=en-US}}

2004

|I Was Black, and I Told Her

|O, The Oprah Magazine{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=O Magazine|url=http://www.oprah.com/spirit/racial-insensitivity-zz-packer/all|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}

2004

|Losing My Religion

|Salon{{Cite web|date=2004-11-21|title=Losing my religion|url=https://www.salon.com/2004/11/20/religion_10/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Salon|language=en}}

2005

|'Dr. King's Refrigerator': Thinking Outside the Icebox

|The New York Times Magazine{{Cite web|date=2005-03-06|title='Dr. King's Refrigerator': Thinking Outside the Icebox (Published 2005)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/books/review/dr-kings-refrigerator-thinking-outside-the-icebox.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en}}

2005

|Sorry, Not Buying

|The American Prospect{{Cite web|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|date=2005-11-20|title=Sorry, Not Buying|url=https://prospect.org/api/content/12956953-33ae-58d3-bbef-4cc664f0694a/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=The American Prospect|language=en-us}}

2007

|Buffalo Soldiers

|Granta{{Cite web|date=2007-04-16|title=Buffalo Soldiers|url=https://granta.com/buffalo-soldiers/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Granta|language=en-US}}

2007

|Pita Delicious

|The Washington Post Magazine{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=|title=Washington post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020701354.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|newspaper=The Washington Post}}

2007

|Gideon

|The Guardian{{Cite web|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|date=2007-10-06|title=Short story: Gideon by ZZ Packer|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/oct/06/featuresreviews.guardianreview32|access-date=2020-12-06|website=The Guardian|language=en}}

2007

|The Finishing Party: ZZ Packer's Writing Group

|O, The Oprah Magazine{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=O Magazine|url=https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/zz-packer-finds-inspiration-and-refuge-in-her-writing-group|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}

2008

|I want Obama to be daily proof that race is no barrier

|The Guardian

2008

|Saved to ‘Drafts’

|Granta{{Cite web|date=2008-11-04|title=Saved to 'Drafts'|url=https://granta.com/saved-to-drafts/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Granta|language=en-US}}

2008

|Working the Reunion

|The New York Times Magazine{{Cite web|date=2008-06-01|title=Working the Reunion (Published 2008)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/magazine/01lives-t.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en}}

2009

|No Polenta, No Cry

|The New York Times Magazine{{Cite web|date=2009-10-08|title=No Polenta, No Cry (Published 2009)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11lives-t.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en}}

2009

|Remembering Updike: ZZ Packer

|The New Yorker{{Cite magazine|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|title=Remembering Updike: ZZ Packer|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/remembering-updike-zz-packer|access-date=2020-12-06|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}

2009

|A Finished Revolution?

|The Oxford American{{Cite web|title=Issue 64, Spring 2009|url=https://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/itemlist/category/65-issue-64-race-2009|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.oxfordamerican.org|language=en-gb}}

2009

|Confessions of a Shopaholic's Wife

|Glamour{{Cite web|title=Real Women's Money Dramas|url=https://www.glamour.com/story/real-womens-money-dramas|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Glamour|date=July 2009 |language=en-us}}

2010

|Dayward

|The New Yorker{{Cite magazine|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|title=Dayward|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/06/14/dayward|access-date=2020-12-06|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}

2011

|Ferraro's Barack Problem

|HuffPost{{Cite web|last=Andrew Foster Altschul|date=2008-03-15|title=ZZ Packer Takes on Geraldine Ferraro|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-foster-altschul/zz-packer-takes-on-gerald_b_91690.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=HuffPost|language=en}}

2012

|Keeping it Weird in Austin, Texas

|Smithsonian{{Cite web|title=Keeping it Weird in Austin, Texas|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/keeping-it-weird-in-austin-texas-5541700/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}

2013

|It's Beyoncé's World and We're Just Living In It

|Newsweek{{Cite web|first=ZZ|last= Packer|date=2013-02-15|title=It's Beyoncé's World and We're Just Living In It|url=https://www.newsweek.com/its-beyonces-world-and-were-just-living-it-63325|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Newsweek|language=en}}

2017

|Trump Talk: Your Translation Guide

|The New Yorker{{Cite magazine|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|title=Trump Talk: Your Translation Guide|url=https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/trump-talk-your-translation-guide|access-date=2020-12-06|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}

2017

|What to Expect When You're Expecting Fascism

|The New Yorker{{Cite magazine|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|title=What to Expect When You're Expecting Fascism|url=https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting-fascism|access-date=2020-12-06|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}

2018

|News of an ‘Outrage’ Used to Mean Something Very, Very Different

|The New York Times Magazine{{Cite web|date=2018-05-23|title=News of an 'Outrage' Used to Mean Something Very, Very Different (Published 2018)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/magazine/news-of-an-outrage-used-to-mean-something-very-very-different.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en}}

2018

|When Is ‘Civility’ a Duty, and When Is It a Trap?

|The New York Times Magazine{{Cite web|date=2018-11-28|title=When Is 'Civility' a Duty, and When Is It a Trap? (Published 2018)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/magazine/when-is-civility-a-duty-and-when-is-it-a-trap.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en}}

2019

|July 30, 1866

|The New York Times Magazine{{Cite web|last1=Ward|first1=Jesmyn|last2=Jenkins|first2=Barry|last3=Dove|first3=Rita|date=2019-08-14|title=A New Literary Timeline of African-American History (Published 2019)|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/african-american-poets.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en}}

2019

|Truth And Fiction

|Port Magazine{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=8 May 2019|title=Port Magazine, Truth and Fiction|url=https://www.port-magazine.com/issue-24/truth-and-fiction/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}

2020

|Preacher of the New Antiracist Gospel

|GQ{{Cite web|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|title=What Happens to a Professor When His Theory of Anti-Racism Goes Mainstream?|url=https://www.gq.com/story/ibram-x-kendi-antiracism-scholar-profile|access-date=2020-12-06|website=GQ|date=20 August 2020 |language=en-us}}

2020

|Sarah Cooper Doesn't Mimic Trump. She Exposes Him.

|The New York Times Magazine{{Cite web|date=2020-06-25|title=Sarah Cooper Doesn't Mimic Trump. She Exposes Him.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/magazine/sarah-cooper-doesnt-mimic-trump-she-exposes-him.html|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.nytimes.com|language=en}}

2020

|The Empty Facts of the Breonna Taylor Decision

|The New Yorker{{Cite magazine|last=Packer|first=Z. Z.|title=The Empty Facts of the Breonna Taylor Decision|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-empty-facts-of-the-breonna-taylor-decision|access-date=2020-12-06|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}

Awards

class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Title

!Notes

1997

|Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award

|Winner

1999

|Whiting Award{{Cite web|title=ZZ Packer|url=https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/zz-packer#/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.whiting.org}}

|Winner

1999

|Bellingham Review Award

|Winner

2003

|Commonwealth Club of California Award{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Commonwealth Club awards|url=https://www.commonwealthclub.org/sites/default/files/u123/Official%20Complete%20California%20Book%20Awards%20Winners.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}

|Winner

2004

|PEN/Faulkner Award

|Finalist

2004

|PEN/Hemingway Award

|Finalist

2004

|Alex Award{{Cite web|date=2007-07-30|title=2004 Alex Awards|url=http://www.ala.org/yalsa/2004-alex-awards|access-date=2020-12-06|website=Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)|language=en}}

|Winner

= Other honors =

class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Title

2006

|5 under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation{{Cite web|title=5 Under 35 Archives|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/award_type/5-under-35/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=National Book Foundation|language=en-US}}

2007

|America's Best Young Novelists by Grantahttp://www.granta.com/Magazine/97October 2007

2007

|Smithsonian Magazine's Young InnovatorsTessa Decarlo, [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/innovators/packer.html "Comedienne of Manners"], Smithsonian magazine, October 2007.

2010

|The New Yorker magazine's "20 under 40" luminary fiction writers.{{cite news|last=Bosman|first=Julie|date=2010-06-02|title=20 Young Writers Earn the Envy of Many Others|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/books/03under.html?scp=1&sq=new%20yorker%2040&st=cse}}

Teaching

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

2007

|Writer-in-Residence at the Tulane University English Department Creative Writing Program[http://tulanecw.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/francine-prose-debuts-new-story-during-tulane-visit/ "Francine Prose Debuts New Story During Tulane Visit"], Creative Writing at Tulane, February 25, 2009.

2008

|Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at San Jose State University.[http://www.sjsu.edu/cwmfa/visiting_writers.html "Visiting Writers"], San Jose State University.

2008

|Creative Writing Faculty at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin[http://www.utexas.edu/academic/mcw/faculty/visiting-faculty/zz-packer/ "ZZ Packer"], University of Texas, Austin

2009

|Writer-in-Residence at Vassar College{{Cite web|url=https://english.vassar.edu/news/endowed.html|title=- English Department - Vassar College|website=english.vassar.edu}}

2010

|Visiting Professor of Creative Writing in the MFA Program of Creative Writing at Texas State University

2011

|Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa{{Cite web|url=https://writersworkshop.uiowa.edu/people|title=People | Iowa Writers' Workshop | College of Liberal Arts & Sciences | The University of Iowa|website=writersworkshop.uiowa.edu}}

2012

|Visiting Assistant Professor in English and Creative Writing at University of Houston{{Cite web|title=New non-tenure track faculty join CLASS|url=https://www.uh.edu/class/news/archive/2012/october/new-faculty2/index|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.uh.edu|language=en}}

2013

|Creative Writing Assistant Professor at SFSU{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=SFSU|url=https://ueap.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/assets/docs/6th_Cycle/CArts/Creative_Writing_Self_Study_Complete.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}

2015

|Creative Writing Visiting Faculty at MIT{{Cite web|url=https://cmsw.mit.edu/tag/fiction/|title=MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing | "fiction"}}

2020

|Creative Writing Faculty at Harvard University

2020

|Creative Writing MFA Program at CUNY's Hunter College{{Cite web|title=Ten New Faculty Appointments Join Hunter {{!}} Hunter College|url=https://hunter.cuny.edu/news/ten-new-faculty-appointments-join-hunter/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=hunter.cuny.edu|date=15 September 2020}}

2023

|Assistant Professor in the English Department at Vanderbilt University{{cite web | url=https://as.vanderbilt.edu/english/bio/zz-packer/ | title=Bio }}

Fellowships

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

1999

|Stegner Fellowship{{Cite web|title=Former Stegner Fellows {{!}} Creative Writing Program|url=https://creativewriting.stanford.edu/stegner-fellowship/current-fellows/former-stegner-fellows|access-date=2020-12-06|website=creativewriting.stanford.edu}}

2002

|MacDowell Fellowship{{Cite web|title=ZZ Packer - Artist|url=https://www.macdowell.org/artists/zz-packer|access-date=2020-12-06|website=MacDowell|language=en}}

2005

|National Endowment for the Arts Grant

2005

|Guggenheim Fellowship

2005

|Montalvo Arts Center Lucas Artists Fellowship{{Cite web|title=Montalvo Arts Center {{!}} ZZ Packer|url=http://montalvoarts.org/participants/zz_packer/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=montalvoarts.org}}

2007

|San Francisco Writers' Grotto Fellowship[http://www.sfgrotto.org "News"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930123034/http://www.sfgrotto.org/|date=2007-09-30}}, Grotto.

2010

|Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University[http://www.princeton.edu/arts/lewis_center/society_of_fellows/fellows/packer/ ZZ Packer - 2010 Hodder Fellow], Lewis Center, Princeton.

2010

|MacDowell Fellowship

2013

|Dobie Paisano Fellowship{{Cite web|title=Previous Fellows {{!}} Dobie Paisano Fellowship {{!}} The University of Texas at Austin|url=https://dobiepaisano.utexas.edu/previous-fellows|access-date=2020-12-06|website=dobiepaisano.utexas.edu}}

2014

|Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University{{Cite web|url=https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/people/zz-packer|title=ZZ Packer|date=April 22, 2014|website=Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University}}

2016

|MacDowell Fellowship

2018

|W. E. B. Du Bois Institute Fellowship at Harvard University{{Cite web|url=https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/announcing-2018-2019-fellows|title=Announcing the 2018-2019 Fellows|website=hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu}}

2018

|Montalvo Arts Center Lucas Artists Fellowship

2019

|Montalvo Arts Center Lucas Artists Fellowship

2020

|Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs Fellowship at Brown University.{{Cite web|url=https://watson.brown.edu/people/fellows|title=Senior Fellows | Watson Institute|website=Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs}}

References

{{Reflist|2}}