C Pam Zhang
C Pam Zhang is an American writer whose debut novel How Much of These Hills Is Gold was released by Riverhead Books in 2020, and was long-listed for the 2020 Booker Prize.[1]
C Pam Zhang | |
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Born | 1990 (age 30–31) Beijing |
Occupation | Writer |
Alma mater |
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Website | |
cpamzhang |
Early life and education
Zhang was born in Beijing and moved to the United States when she was four years old. While growing up, she moved to ten new homes by the time she was eighteen.[2] She attended Brown University, and has studied at Cambridge University.[3] Zhang was the 2017 Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writer's Workshop.
Career
How Much of These Hills is Gold follows two recently orphaned children of immigrants on the run, trying not just to survive but to find a home. The novel is set against the twilight of the American gold rush.[4] How Much of These Hills is Gold is inspired by Zhang's childhood of moving homes often. It reckons with the grief she experienced after losing her father when she was twenty-two.[2]
The New York Times said: "C Pam Zhang’s arresting, beautiful first novel is filled with myths of her own making as well as sorrows and joys."[5]
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Zhang's novel is a "a fully immersive epic drama packed with narrative riches and exquisitely crafted prose … . Zhang captures not only the mesmeric beauty and storied history of America’s sacred landscape, but also the harsh sacrifices countless people were forced to make in hopes of laying claim to its bounty."[6]
Zhang has been awarded support from Tin House, Bread Loaf, and Aspen Words Words.[7] In 2020, Zhang was nominated for a Booker Prize.[8]
Bibliography
- How Much of These Hills Is Gold, New York : Riverhead, 2020. ISBN 9780593189290
References
- "The 2020 Booker Prize longlist announced". The Booker Prizes. July 27, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- de León, Concepción (April 4, 2020). "How a Chinese-American Novelist Wrote Herself Into the Wild West". The New York Times.
- Cumsky-Whitlock, Jake (May 19, 2020). "An Indies Introduce Q&A With C Pam Zhang". American Booksellers Association.
- "How Much of These Hills Is Gold". Penguin Random House. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
- Southgate, Martha (April 7, 2020). "A Haunting Debut Novel Brings New Faces to the Myth of the American West". The New York Times.
- Burling, Alexis (March 31, 2020). "Review: 'How Much of These Hills Is Gold' is a fierce reimagining of the American West". SF Chronicle.
- "C Pam Zhang". Penguin Random House.
- Marshall, Alex (July 27, 2020). "Hilary Mantel, Kiley Reid, Anne Tyler in Running for Booker Prize". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 2, 2020.