Ursa Short Fiction

ZZ Packer on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Drinking Coffee Elsewhere’

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In our Season Two premiere, co-hosts Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton talk with the beloved ZZ Packer, author of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, a collection first published in 2003 that went on to inspire countless writers. Packer talks about how she found her voice, style, and authenticity as a young, Black, female writer who hadn’t even planned on becoming a writer. She addresses ideas of navigating both physical and figurative spaces and learning how to find a place in the literary world.


Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

  • Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (ZZ Packer)
  • Zora Neale Hurston
  • Toni Morrison
  • Flannery O’Connor
  • James Alan McPherson (Elbow Room and Hue and Cry)
  • Lorrie Moore
  • Stuart Dybek
  • Percival Everett
  • James Baldwin
  • Anton Chekhov
  • Edward P. Jones (Lost in the City and The Known World)
  • Alice Munro
  • Imani Perry
  • Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy)
  • Edwidge Danticat


    • Read more from Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton: 

    • The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw)
    • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton)


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      Episode editor: Kelly Araja

      Associate producer: Marina Leigh

      Producer: Mark Armstrong

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