These essays cover many different topics. ZZ Packer has published a variety of essays and opinion pieces in various magazines and newspapers. These African-American soldiers came to be known as the Buffalo Soldiers by the Native American population. This included keeping the peace on the reservations as well as participating in the American Indian Wars as the United States continued to expand westward. Their job there was mainly to control the Native American population. ZZ Packer's Short Storiesįollowing the Civil War, regiments of African-American soldiers were sent to the Western frontier. ZZ Packer has published one book, a collection of short stories, as well as numerous individual short stories and essays. Packer has two sons and is reportedly at work on a historical novel set in the United States that tells the story of the Buffalo Soldiers during the Reconstruction period. Her short stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Granta, Smithsonian, Harper's, and many more. Since the publication of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, Packer has taught creative writing at numerous institutions, including the University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University, the University of Iowa, and MIT. The collection of eight short stories won an Alex Award, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and earned Packer a spot on the National Book Award's 2006 5 Under 35 program.

The story would become the title piece of the collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, which was published in 2003. In 2000, Packer's short story 'Drinking Coffee Elsewhere' was published in The New Yorker's Debut Fiction issue. Packer then received a Stegner Fellowship to study at Stanford University. Packer then returned to higher education and, in 1999, she graduated from the University of Iowa's Writer's Workshop with her MFA in creative writing. The following year, she completed an MA at John Hopkins University and spent the next two years teaching public high school. ZZ Packer received a scholarship to study at Yale University. She graduated from Yale with a BA in 1994. Once in school, however, Packer decided to change her major to English. She was awarded a scholarship to study at Yale University, where she intended to study engineering. Packer excelled in school and graduated from Seneca High School in 1990. Some years later, following her parents' divorce, she moved again with her mother and younger sister to Louisville, Kentucky. When she was five years old, Packer moved with her family to Atlanta, Georgia. Early on, ZZ became Packer's childhood nickname. Zuwena 'ZZ' Packer was born in Chicago, Illinois, on January 12th, 1973. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and won an Alex Award from the American Library Association. The collection of eight stories explores themes such as coming-of-age, sexual innocence, race, and identity, and showcases the author's characteristically frank, often humorous writing style.

American author ZZ Packer became a celebrated name in contemporary literature with the publication of her short story collection, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (2003).

Zz packer books