As Carrie mentioned over at Tingle Alley, the October issue of The Believer will have an interview by ZZ Packer of John Kerry. Packer is also featured, along with Junot Diaz, Paul Auster, Wallace Shawn, Norman Mailer and others in this article by Robert McCrum for The Observer about U.S. writers’ views of the upcoming election.
Z.Z. Packer sits down for an interview with The Age, in which she talks about rewriting a story for The New Yorker, her ten-year reunion at Yale, and her robotics work.
Did she feel like an outsider at Yale?
“I feel like an outsider everywhere.”
And yes, the question of her looks does come up (you know it had to, right?). Here’s Packer’s response:
“It is disconcerting,” says Packer. “You’re operating in this field which is supposed to be about the words on the page and they’re taking pictures every place you go.” She pauses. “Trust me, I have no problems with people thinking I’m pretty. It helps out with my ego. But I don’t think it’s what people should be noted for and it’s happening more and more.”
ZZ Packer’s collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is reviewed in the Sunday New York Times. Can’t wait to see her when she reads at Dutton’s here in L.A.
2:30 PM
Fiction: Not So Ordinary People
Tony Earley, Dinaw Mengestu, Stewart O’Nan, Ann Packer and moderated by Laila Lalami
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
Korn Convocation Hall
UCLA Campus
Los Angeles, California