A short life of the author
Nell Zink (b. 28 February 1964) was born in Southern California and grew up in rural Virginia. She lived in Germany for many years and began publishing fiction in her fifties.
Life and Career
The Wallcreeper (2014) — about an American couple in Switzerland involved in environmental activism — was published by a small press (Dorothy) after Zink’s correspondence with Jonathan Franzen led to his championing her work. Mislaid (2015) — about a white lesbian professor’s wife who flees her marriage and raises her daughter as Black in 1960s Virginia — is a wild, genre-defying comedy about race, identity, and passing.
Nicotine (2016) — about a young woman who inherits her father’s house and discovers it’s occupied by squatters — and Doxology (2019) — a multigenerational novel spanning from the 1990s punk scene through 9/11 to the 2016 election — are her most ambitious works.
Major Works and Themes
Zink writes about environmentalism, identity, politics, and American absurdity with an energy and unpredictability that makes each novel feel genuinely surprising.
Key Works
- The Wallcreeper (2014)
- Doxology (2019)
Collecting Zink
The Wallcreeper first edition (Dorothy, 2014) — a small press run — brings $30–$80. Zink continues to publish.