{{short description|American writer}} {{update|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | 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 = | alma_mater =Yale University (BA)<br>Johns Hopkins University (MA)<br>Iowa Writers' Workshop, University of Iowa (MFA) | occupation = | period = 2000-present | genre = | subject = | movement = | influenced = | awards = 5 Under 35 Honoree<br>Guggenheim Fellow (2005)<br>Whiting Award (1999) | website = }} '''Zuwena "ZZ" Packer''' (born January 12, 1973) is an American writer, primarily of works of short fiction, and teacher. She is the recipient of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award, the Whiting Award, and the Guggenheim Fellowship.<ref name="news.emory.edu" /> Her book ''Drinking Coffee Elsewhere'' won the Commonwealth First Fiction Award and an ALEX award.<ref>{{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}}</ref> It became a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award and was selected for the Today Show Book Club by John Updike.<ref>{{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}}</ref> In 2006, she was named a 5 Under 35 Honoree by the National Book Foundation.<ref name=5under35>{{Cite web |title=ZZ Packer, 5 Under 35 Honoree |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/people/zz-packer/|website=National Book Foundation}} Retrieved 2026-05-06.</ref>
==Early life and education== Born in Chicago, Illinois, Packer grew up in Atlanta, Georgia,<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="news.emory.edu">{{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}}</ref> and Louisville, Kentucky. "ZZ" was a childhood nickname; her given name is Zuwena.<ref name="Birnbaum-2003">{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> Packer enjoyed reading from a young age, visiting the local library daily with her mother in Atlanta.<ref name="Walsh-2015" /> Her writing was published in the magazine ''Seventeen'' at the age of 19.<ref name="Birnbaum-2003" /> Packer is a 1990 graduate of Seneca High School in Louisville, Kentucky.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
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 and Marilynne Robinson.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="Vanderbilt University">{{cite web |title=ZZ Packer |url=https://as.vanderbilt.edu/english/bio/zz-packer/ |website=Vanderbilt University |access-date=13 September 2025}}</ref>
== Writing 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."<ref>[http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?z=y&ean=9781573223782&displayonly=REV#REV "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere"], Barnes & Noble.</ref>
"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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
In a 2015 interview, when Packer was a Radcliffe Fellow, she reported that she was working on a novel set during Reconstruction in the aftermath of the Civil War.<ref name="Walsh-2015">{{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}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{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}}</ref> She has been regularly contributing to ''The New York Times Magazine'' and ''The New Yorker''.
== Teaching and fellowships == Packer has held teaching posts at Stanford University, where she was a Jones Lecturer, the Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Vassar College, and San Francisco University.<ref name="Vanderbilt University"/><ref name="whiting">{{cite web |title=ZZ Packer |url=https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/zz-packer |website=Whiting Awards |access-date=13 September 2025}}</ref><ref name="iowa">{{cite web |title=ZZ Packer |url=https://writersworkshop.uiowa.edu/people/zz-packer |website=Iowa Writers Workshop |access-date=13 September 2025}}</ref> As of 2025, she is Assistant Professor of English at the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University<ref name="van">{{cite web |title=2025-2026 Faculty Fellows |url=https://as.vanderbilt.edu/robert-penn-warren-center/2025-2026-faculty-fellows/ |website=Vanderbilt University |access-date=13 September 2025}}</ref> and teaches Advanced Narrative Techniques on the American Short Fiction MFA for All.<ref>{{cite web |title=MFA for All Spring 2025 |url=https://americanshortfiction.org/mfa-for-all-spring-2025/ |website=American Short Fiction |date=16 January 2025 |access-date=13 September 2025}}</ref>
She has been the recipient of a Dobie Paisano Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, a Hutchings Fellowship at Harvard University, a Knafel Fellowship at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and the Whiting Award.<ref name="whiting"/><ref name="iowa"/><ref name="van"/>
== Works ==
=== Books === {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title |- |2003 |''Drinking Coffee Elsewhere'' |}
=== Anthologies === {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title |- |2000 |''Best American Short Stories'' 2000<ref>The Best American Short Stories 2000</ref> |- |2003 |''Best American Short Stories'' 2003<ref>Best American Short Stories 2003</ref> |- |2008 |''New Stories from the South: The Year's Best''<ref>David 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"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015211711/http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/zz-packers-edition-of-southern-stories-straddles-old-and-new-dixie/Content?oid=1210382 |date=2012-10-15 }}, ''Indy Week''. August 20, 2008.</ref> |- |2015 |100 Years of the Best American Short Stories<ref>{{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}}</ref> |}
==== Other works ==== {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title !Publication |- |1999 |Brownies |Harper's Magazine<ref>{{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.}}</ref> |- |2000 |Drinking Coffee Elsewhere |The New Yorker<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2002 |The Ant of the Self |The New Yorker<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2002 |Every Tongue Shall Confess |Ploughshares<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fall 2002 {{!}} Ploughshares|url=https://www.pshares.org/issues/fall-2002|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.pshares.org}}</ref> |- |2002 |The Stranger |The Washington Post Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2004 |Derby Pie |The New York Times Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2004 |An Interview with John Kerry |The Believer Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2004 |I Was Black, and I Told Her |O, The Oprah Magazine<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=O Magazine|url=http://www.oprah.com/spirit/racial-insensitivity-zz-packer/all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128094509/https://www.oprah.com/spirit/racial-insensitivity-zz-packer/all|archive-date=2021-11-28|access-date=|website=|url-status=dead}}</ref> |- |2004 |Losing My Religion |Salon<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2005 |'Dr. King's Refrigerator': Thinking Outside the Icebox |The New York Times Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2005 |Sorry, Not Buying |The American Prospect<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2007 |Buffalo Soldiers |Granta<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2007 |Pita Delicious |The Washington Post Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2007 |Gideon |The Guardian<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2007 |The Finishing Party: ZZ Packer's Writing Group |O, The Oprah Magazine<ref>{{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=}}</ref> |- |2008 |I want Obama to be daily proof that race is no barrier |The Guardian |- |2008 |Saved to ‘Drafts’ |Granta<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2008 |Working the Reunion |The New York Times Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2009 |No Polenta, No Cry |The New York Times Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2009 |Remembering Updike: ZZ Packer |The New Yorker<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2009 |A Finished Revolution? |The Oxford American<ref>{{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|archive-date=2020-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129041924/https://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/itemlist/category/65-issue-64-race-2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> |- |2009 |Confessions of a Shopaholic's Wife |Glamour<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2010 |Dayward |The New Yorker<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2011 |Ferraro's Barack Problem |HuffPost<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2012 |Keeping it Weird in Austin, Texas |Smithsonian<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2013 |It's Beyoncé's World and We're Just Living In It |Newsweek<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2017 |Trump Talk: Your Translation Guide |The New Yorker<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2017 |What to Expect When You're Expecting Fascism |The New Yorker<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2018 |News of an ‘Outrage’ Used to Mean Something Very, Very Different |The New York Times Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2018 |When Is ‘Civility’ a Duty, and When Is It a Trap? |The New York Times Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2019 |July 30, 1866 |The New York Times Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2019 |Truth And Fiction |Port Magazine<ref>{{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=}}</ref> |- |2020 |Preacher of the New Antiracist Gospel |GQ<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2020 |Sarah Cooper Doesn't Mimic Trump. She Exposes Him. |The New York Times Magazine<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |2020 |The Empty Facts of the Breonna Taylor Decision |The New Yorker<ref>{{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}}</ref> |}
==Awards== {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title !Notes |- |1997 |Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award |Winner |- |1999 |Whiting Award<ref>{{Cite web|title=ZZ Packer|url=https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/zz-packer#/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.whiting.org}}</ref> |Winner |- |1999 |Bellingham Review Award |Winner |- |2003 |Commonwealth Club of California Award<ref>{{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=}}</ref> |Winner |- |2004 |PEN/Faulkner Award |Finalist |- |2004 |PEN/Hemingway Award |Finalist |- |2004 |Alex Award<ref>{{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}}</ref> |Winner |}
=== Other honors === {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title |- |2006 |5 under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation<ref name=5under35 /> |- |2007 |America's Best Young Novelists by Granta<ref>http://www.granta.com/Magazine/97October{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 2007</ref> |- |2007 |''Smithsonian Magazine'''s Young Innovators<ref>Tessa Decarlo, [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/innovators/packer.html "Comedienne of Manners"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110402051350/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/innovators/packer.html |date=2011-04-02 }}, ''Smithsonian'' magazine, October 2007.</ref> |- |2010 |''The New Yorker'' magazine's "20 under 40" luminary fiction writers.<ref>{{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}}</ref> |}
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== * [http://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/zz-packer#/ Profile at The Whiting Foundation] * [https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-books-biblioracle-0128-story.html From Matthew Klam to ZZ Packer: Some writers are worth the wait] * [https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/03/plotting-her-return/ Plotting her return] * [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/books/the-nobel-prize-waiting-game-a-year-for-long-shots-.html The Nobel Prize Waiting Game: A Year for Long Shots?]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, ZZ}} Category:21st-century American novelists Category:African-American novelists Category:American women short story writers Category:21st-century pseudonymous women writers Category:American historical novelists Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni Category:Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Category:Writers from Atlanta Category:University of Iowa alumni Category:Yale University alumni Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:Baltimore City College faculty Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Category:People from Pacifica, California Category:Writers from Chicago Category:Radcliffe fellows Category:21st-century American women novelists Category:Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award winners Category:Seneca High School (Louisville, Kentucky) alumni Category:21st-century American short story writers Category:PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Category:Novelists from California Category:Novelists from Kentucky Category:Novelists from Illinois Category:Novelists from Iowa Category:Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Stegner Fellows Category:21st-century pseudonymous writers Category:21st-century African-American women writers Category:21st-century African-American writers Category:20th-century African-American writers Category:African-American women novelists