{{short description|US writer and media scholar}} {{Infobox writer |name = Helen "Nell" Louise Zink |image = Nell Zink 2018.jpg |image_size = |caption = |birth_name = |birth_date = {{birth year and age|1964}}<ref name="4th" /> |birth_place = California, U.S. |death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> |occupation = Novelist |language = English |alma_mater = College of William and Mary; University of Tübingen }}
'''Helen "Nell" Louise Zink''' (born 1964) is an American writer living in Germany. After being a long term penpal of Avner Shats, she came to prominence in her fifties with the help of Jonathan Franzen and her novel, ''Mislaid'', was longlisted for the National Book Award. Her debut ''The Wallcreeper'' was released in the United States by the independent press Dorothy and named one of 100 notable books of 2014 by ''The New York Times'', as was ''Mislaid''. Zink then released ''Nicotine'', ''Private Novelist'', and ''Doxology'' through Ecco Press. In 2022 she published ''Avalon'', also a New York Times notable book, with Alfred A. Knopf. In 2025 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
==Writing career== After fifteen years spent writing fiction exclusively for a single penpal, the Israeli postmodernist Avner Shats, Zink caught the attention of Jonathan Franzen with a letter promoting the work of the German ornithologist Martin Schneider-Jacoby and asking for his help to save birds in the Balkans.<ref name=Ellis-Petersen /><ref name="LRB-Tayler" /> The two writers began a correspondence, and Franzen was surprised to learn that Zink had no published literary work. Zink comments:<ref name=Ellis-Petersen />
<blockquote>I was so tired of Franzen saying that I should take myself seriously as a writer and I wanted to make very clear that there's a very clear distinction between taking your career seriously and taking your writing seriously. So I wrote the first part of a new novel, called ''The Wallcreeper'', in just four days to show him that I knew what I was doing as a writer.</blockquote>
In early 2012, Zink sent Franzen her collected manuscripts. Franzen tried unsuccessfully to interest publishers in her 1998 novel ''Sailing Towards the Sunset by Avner Shats'' [sic]. Franzen's agent finally negotiated a six-figure publishing deal for Zink's ''Mislaid''.<ref name=Ellis-Petersen /> Meanwhile, ''The Wallcreeper'' was published independently in the United States in 2014 by Dorothy, a publishing project.<ref name="Paris Review">{{cite web|last1=Jakubowski|first1=Matthew|title=Purity of Essence: One Question for Nell Zink|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/12/08/purity-of-essence-one-question-for-nell-zink/|website=Paris Review Blog - The Daily|date=8 December 2014 |publisher=The Paris Review|access-date=28 February 2015}}</ref><ref name=Dorothy/> Reviewing it in ''The New York Times'' Robin Romm wrote, "Zink's work may be, at times, cerebral and a little distancing, but its vitality and purpose are invigorating"<ref name=Romm>{{cite news|last1=Romm|first1=Robin|title=Nell Zink's 'Wallcreeper'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/books/review/nell-zink-wallcreeper-review.html?_r=0|access-date=28 February 2015|agency=The New York Times Sunday Book Review|work=The New York Times|date=Oct 17, 2014|ref=Romm}}</ref> and "The passages about European environmental groups, government programs and methods of protest are less universal and more like amusement for insiders—more like the impromptu they started as, in other words." Overall she compliments the book on its humor, liveliness, and critique of humanity's "mindless consumption".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/books/review/nell-zink-wallcreeper-review.html|title=Nell Zink's 'Wallcreeper'|last1=Romm|first1=Robin|work=The New York Times |date=17 October 2014 |access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref> Kirkus Reviews called it "a brief yet masterful novel of epic breadth."<ref name=Kirkus>{{cite news|title=The Wallcreeper, by Nell Zink (starred review)|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nell-zink/the-wallcreeper/|access-date=28 February 2015|issue=August 15, 2014|work=Kirkus Reviews}}</ref> It was listed as one of the 100 notable books of 2014 by ''The New York Times''.<ref name="100Notable">{{cite news |title=100 Notable Books of 2014 (Published 2014) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2014.html |access-date=24 December 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=2 December 2014}}</ref>
Zink's second novel, ''Mislaid'' (Ecco Press), her first under a major publisher, follows the story of a white lesbian, Peggy, later 'Meg', born in rural Virginia in the 1960s. Peggy leaves her marriage for her professor, and with the help of a stolen birth certificate, creates a new African-American identity for herself and her daughter, Mireille/Karen. Though Dwight Garner called the book "a minor and misshapen novel from a potentially major voice,"<ref>{{cite web|date=May 19, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/books/review-in-nell-zinks-mislaid-a-lesbian-on-the-run-masquerades-as-black.html|title=In Nell Zink's 'Mislaid'|author-link=Dwight Garner (critic)|author=Garner, Dwight|work=The New York Times}}</ref> he later named it among his top ten books for the year.<ref>{{cite web|date=December 10, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/books/the-top-books-of-2015.html|title=Top Ten|author-link=Dwight Garner (critic)|author=Garner, Dwight|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Walter Kirn, in ''The New York Times Book Review'', found it a "provocative masquerade with heart," identifying an "elegance and confidence that are exceptionally rare now."<ref name=Kirn>{{cite news|last=Kirn|first=Walter|title='Mislaid' by Nell Zink|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/books/review/mislaid-by-nell-zink.html?_r=0|access-date=June 23, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=June 4, 2015}}</ref> New York Times Magazine writer Daniel J. Sharfstein observed that while Zink's plot may be "over-the-top," the real-life case of former NAACP chapter president Rachel Dolezal bears a remarkable parallel.<ref name=Sharfstein>{{cite news|last=Sharfstein|first=Daniel J.|title=Rachel Dolezal's 'Passing' Isn't So Unusual|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/magazine/rachel-dolezals-passing-isnt-so-unusual.html|work=The New York Times Magazine|date=June 15, 2015}}</ref> ''Mislaid'' was longlisted for the National Book Award.<ref name=Alter>{{cite news|last1=Alter|first1=Alexandra|title=Lauren Groff, Nell Zink are Among National Book Award Fiction Nominees|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/lauren-groff-and-nell-zink-are-among-national-book-award-fiction-nominees|access-date=17 September 2015|publisher=The New York Times ArtsBeat Blog|date=September 17, 2015|ref=Alter}}</ref>
''Nicotine'' was published in 2016. Joe Dunthorne wrote, "there is a recklessness and a freshness to this complex tale that is at its best when its elements of horror and humor collide."<ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite news|last1=Dunthorne|first1=Joe|title=Nicotine by Nell Zink review – third novel in 18 months from a fresh talent|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/29/nicotine-nell-zink-review-third-novel|newspaper=The Guardian|date=29 September 2016 |access-date=3 May 2018}}</ref> In the ''New York Times'', Garner praised the book, writing, "I could listen to Ms Zink's dialogue all day; she may be, at heart, a playwright."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Garner|first1=Dwight|title=Review: Nell Zink's 'Nicotine' Is Hard to Put Down, Despite Its Unruly Plot|work=The New York Times |date=4 October 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/05/books/review-nell-zink-nicotine.html|access-date=2 May 2018}}</ref>
In Kirn's review of ''Mislaid'', he writes that toward the end of the novel, "Piquancy and intimacy are lost, sacrificed to momentum and high mayhem. The damage isn't fatal, though; the novel's charm and intelligence ran deep." Overall, he compliments the book's pace and "sharp observations" made by her narration.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kirn|first1=Walter|title='Mislaid,' by Nell Zink|work=The New York Times |date=4 June 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/books/review/mislaid-by-nell-zink.html|access-date=3 May 2018}}</ref>
==Personal life== Zink was born in California in 1964 and raised in rural Virginia, a setting she draws on in ''Mislaid''.<ref name=Dorothy>{{cite web|title=Dorothy, A Publishing Project - The Wallcreeper|url=http://dorothyproject.com/?post_type=book&p=55|website=dorothyproject.com|publisher=Dorothy, A Publishing Project|access-date=28 February 2015}}</ref><ref name=Ellis-Petersen /> She attended Stuart Hall School and the College of William and Mary, where she earned a B.A. in philosophy.<ref name="Dorothy" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/BiographiesDetailsPage/BiographiesDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Biographies&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CH1000313869&source=Bookmark&u=mlin_n_umass&jsid=aace2b95731651c6350bd10f1d139d28|title = Contemporary Authors Online|date = 2015|access-date = February 4, 2016|website = Biography in Context|publisher = Gale}}</ref>
In 1993, while living in Hoboken, New Jersey, Zink founded a zine called ''Animal Review'', which ran until 1997 and "featured submissions and interviews with punk musicians about their pets, from King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp writing about his rabbit Beaton Bunnerius Bun, to Jon Langford, of British punk band The Mekons, discussing his loach fish."<ref name="Ellis-Petersen">{{cite news|last1=Ellis-Petersen|first1=Hannah|title=Nell Zink: there's a clear distinction between taking your career seriously and taking your writing seriously|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/04/nell-zink-jonathan-franzen-clear-distinction-taking-career-seriously-writing-seriously|access-date=28 February 2015|work=The Guardian|date=Jan 4, 2015}}</ref> Zink has worked as a secretary at Colgate-Palmolive and as a technical writer in Tel Aviv. She has worked in construction, waited tables, and as a secretary before working as a translator.<ref name="Paris Review"/><ref name="LRB-Tayler">{{cite journal |last1=Tayler |first1=Christopher |title=Agent Bait |journal=London Review of Books |date=2 March 2017 |volume=39 |issue=5 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n05/christopher-tayler/agent-bait |language=en |issn=0260-9592}}</ref> "There's never a market for true art," Zink told an interviewer from ''The Paris Review'', "so my main concern was always to have a job that didn't require me to write or think."<ref name="Paris Review"/>
Zink moved to Germany in 2000, eventually earning a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Tübingen.<ref name="Paris Review" /><ref name=Dorothy/> She has worked as a translator for Zeitenspiegel agency.<ref name="4th">{{cite web |title=Nell Zink |url=http://www.4thestate.co.uk/author/nell-zink/ |website=4th Estate |access-date=24 December 2020}}</ref> She lives in Bad Belzig.<ref name="Paris Review"/>
Zink has been married and divorced twice.<ref name="Vulture">{{cite news |last1=Kachka |first1=Boris |title=Talking to Nell Zink About Hefty Advances, Millennial Prudishness, and Her Pen Pal Jonathan Franzen |url=https://www.vulture.com/2016/10/nell-zink-nicotine.html |access-date=24 December 2020 |work=Vulture |date=3 October 2016 |language=en-us}}</ref> On May 8, 1990, she eloped with Benjamin A. Burck in a "very simple civil ceremony" at the Henrico County Courthouse in Richmond, Virginia; they divorced in 1996.<ref name="Anne Y">{{cite news|last1=Zink|first1=Anne Y.|title=Flotsam and Jetsam (column)|url=http://jwm.stparchive.com/Archive/JWM/JWM05151990P07.php|access-date=2 May 2016|publisher=The Westmoreland Journal|date=May 15, 1990|ref=Anne Y}}</ref> That year she married the Israeli composer and poet Zohar Eitan.<ref name="LRB-Tayler" />
== Bibliography ==
===Novels=== * ''The Wallcreeper'' (200 pages, Dorothy, a publishing project, 2014, {{ISBN|0989760715}}) * ''Mislaid'' (256 pages, Ecco Press, 2015, {{ISBN|0062364774}}) <ref name="e200">{{cite web |last=Schulz |first=Kathryn |date=2015-05-11 |title=Bricklayer, Bird-Watcher, Literary Sensation |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/18/outside-in |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=The New Yorker}}</ref> * ''Nicotine'' (304 pages, Ecco Press, 2016, {{ISBN|0062441701}})<ref>{{cite web|title=Nicotine - Nell Zink - Hardcover|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062441706/nicotine|website=HarperCollins Publishers|access-date=18 June 2016}}</ref> * ''Private Novelist'' (336 pages, Ecco Press, 2016, {{ISBN|0062458302}}) *''Doxology'' (416 pages, Ecco Press, 2019, {{ISBN|006287778X}})<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062877789/doxology|title=Doxology - Nell Zink - Hardcover|website=HarperCollins Publishers: World-Leading Book Publisher|access-date=2019-07-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vanderhoof |first=Erin |date=2019-08-19 |title=Nell Zink's Doxology Is a Novel of Man Versus Nature—But This Time Nature Isn't a Big Bear |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/08/nell-zink-doxology-interview |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}</ref> *''Avalon'' (224 pages, Alfred A. Knopf, 2022, {{ISBN|0593534891}})<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/708167/avalon-by-nell-zink/|title=Avalon by Nell Zink: 9780593534892|website=Penguin Random House|access-date=2021-12-16}}</ref> *''Sister Europe'' (195 pages, Alfred A. Knopf, 2025, {{ISBN|9780593534915}})<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/708168/sister-europe-by-nell-zink/|title=Sister Europe by Nell Zink: 9780593534915|website=Penguin Random House|access-date=2024-12-28}}</ref><ref name="a902">{{cite web |date=2025-03-20 |title=Interview: Nell Zink on 'Sister Europe' and Her Reading Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/books/review/nell-zink-sister-europe-by-the-book.html |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=The New York Times}}</ref>
===Short fiction===
* Zink, Nell (2017). "Bonebreaker". ''Harper's'', June 2017.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://harpers.org/archive/2017/06/bonebreaker/|title=Bonebreaker|last=Zink|first=Nell|date=June 2017|magazine=Harper's Magazine|access-date=2019-07-08|issn=0017-789X}}</ref> *Zink, Nell (2019). "Marmalade Sky". ''Harper's'', July 2019.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://harpers.org/archive/2019/07/marmalade-sky-nell-zink/|title=Marmalade Sky|last=Zink|first=Nell|date=July 2019|magazine=Harper's Magazine|access-date=2019-07-08|issn=0017-789X}}</ref>
=== Essays ===
* Zink, Nell (2019). "The Bird Angle". ''Harper's'', November 2019.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://harpers.org/archive/2019/11/the-bird-angle-nell-zink/|title=The Bird Angle|last=Zink|first=Nell|date=November 2019|magazine=Harper's Magazine|access-date=2019-11-29|issn=0017-789X}}</ref> * Zink, Nell (2020). "This Babushka Has Talons". ''n+1'', January 2020.<ref>{{cite web |last1=ZINK |first1=NELL |title=This Babushka Has Talons |date=6 January 2020 |url=https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/this-babushka-has-talons/ |access-date=19 January 2020}}</ref>
===Liner notes=== * ''Two Originals of Tom Liwa'', 2002
===Critical studies and reviews=== *{{cite magazine |author=Schulz, Kathryn |date=May 18, 2015 |title=Outside in : Nell Zink turned her back on the publishing world. It found her anyway |department=Life and Letters |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=91 |issue=13 |pages=38–45 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/18/outside-in |access-date=2015-08-05}} *{{cite magazine |author=Haas, Lidija |date=October 2016 |title=Are You Kidding : The inscrutable sincerity of Nell Zink |magazine=Harper's |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2016/10/are-you-kidding |access-date=2019-03-16}} *{{cite journal |author=Tayler, Christopher |date=2 March 2017 |title=Agent bait |journal=London Review of Books |volume=39 |issue=5 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n05/christopher-tayler/agent-bait |access-date=2022-08-16}} *Schwartz, Madeleine (September 2019). "[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/nell-zinks-satire-raises-the-stakes Nell Zink's Satire Raises the Stakes]". ''The New Yorker''. September 2, 2019 Issue.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://shats.com/AR/index.html "Animal Review / Fanzine of Herbivorous Youth"] a fanzine edited by and partly written by Zink * [https://nplusonemag.com/authors/zinknell/ Articles by Zink] for the journal ''n+1'' * [http://jwm.stparchive.com/Archive/JWM/JWM05151990P07.php "The Westmoreland Journal, May 15, 1990"] * [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/04/nell-zink-jonathan-franzen-clear-distinction-taking-career-seriously-writing-seriously "The Guardian"] {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zink, Nell}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American novelists Category:21st-century American women novelists Category:College of William & Mary alumni Category:University of Tübingen alumni Category:Novelists from California Category:Novelists from Virginia Category:20th-century American novelists Category:20th-century American women novelists