Zinzi Clemmons

Zinzi Clemmons (born 1985) is an American writer. She is known for her 2017 debut novel What We Lose.

Personal life Born in 1985 to a multi-ethnic South African mother from an upper-middle-class family in Johannesburg and spent summers in South Africa.

Clemmons attended Brown University as an undergraduate, studying critical theory, then earned an MFA in fiction at Columbia University, where she worked with Paul Beatty. The book was loosely based on Clemmons' own experience being the primary caregiver for her mother when she died of cancer, and was described by The Guardian as "highly experimental, told in intimate vignettes including blogposts, photos, hand-drawn charts and hip-hop lyrics". It received broad critical acclaim, with Vogue calling What We Lose the best debut novel of the year.

In 2017, the National Book Foundation named Clemmons to its annual 5 Under 35 list, selected by Angela Flournoy. The same year, she announced she would no longer write for the Lenny Letter and asked other women of color to join her after Lenny 's founder Lena Dunham issued a statement defending coworker Murray Miller, who had been accused of rape by Aurora Perrineau, a biracial actress.

In May 2018, Clemmons accused the writer Junot Díaz of sexual harassment at a workshop when she was a graduate student, following a confrontation with Díaz at the Sydney Writers' Festival. Díaz later denied the allegations. The public response sparked some controversy among feminist academics regarding how race and ethnicity affects the handling of sexual harassment allegations in the context of the Me Too movement. After an investigation, it was determined that Díaz kissed her on her cheek.

Awards

Publications

What We Lose (2017) Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves, edited by Glory Edim (2018)