Zinzi Clemmons was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. A graduate of Brown and Columbia, her writing has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, The Paris Review Daily, Transition, and elsewhere. She is a cofounder and former publisher of Apogee Journal and a contributing editor to Literary Hub. She has been in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Bread Loaf, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and Dar al-Ma'mûn in Marrakech, Morocco. Clemmons lives in Los Angeles with her husband, where she teaches at The Colburn Conservatory and Occidental College.
"Potent . . . A loosely autobiographical exorcism of grief. Boldly
innovative and frankly sexual, the collage-like novel mixes
hand-drawn charts, archival photographs, rap lyrics, sharp
disquisitions on the Mandelas and Oscar Pistorius, and singular
meditations on racism's brutal intimacies. . . . A novel as
visceral as it is cerebral, never letting us forget, over the
course of its improbably expansive 200 pages, the feeling of
untameable grief in the body. . . . One can't help but think of
Clemmons as in the running to be the next-generation Claudia
Rankine."
--Megan O'Grady, Vogue "Like so many stories of the black diaspora,
What We Lose is an examination of haunting. . . . Thandi,
Clemmons's narrator, carefully reeling after the death of her
mother, occupies a voice so clear that she, and her grief, feel
immediately tangible."
--Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker "In stark prose, Clemmons's
narrator, Thandi, grieves the agonizing loss of her difficult and
loving immigrant mother to cancer. Searing vignettes describe her
life before and after her mother's death. . . . The book's
distinctive form and voice give it an unusual capacity to show how
individuals connect deep feeling to broad political
understanding--an experience too rarely rendered in fiction."
--The New York Times Book Review "Contrasting what it means to be
black in America with being black in Johannesburg, where her
mother's relatives still live, Clemmons presents a brutally honest
yet nuanced view of contemporary identity. . . . Raw and ravishing,
this novel pulses with vulnerability and shimmering anger."
--Nicole Dennis-Benn, O, the Oprah Magazine
"Who do we become when we lose a parent? That transformation and
the loss of identity . . . is at the heart of Zinzi Clemmons' novel
What We Lose."
--NPR "A richly volatile study of grief, wonderment and love."
--Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal "This affecting novel combines
autobiographical vignettes with photos and pertinent charts--one
tracks longevity by race--as the narrator reckons with her
loss."
--People "A startling, poignant debut. . . . The book's force comes
as much from its form as from its content. . . . A striking novel
about filial grief."
--The Atlantic "Illness, race, and heartbreak collide in this
beautiful debut about a college student who's trying to come to
terms with the death of her vivacious South African-born
mother."
--Entertainment Weekly "An episodic novel about a young woman
struggling with issues of grief, romance and racial identity after
her mother's death."
--John Williams, The New York Times "What We Lose is about a young
woman enduring the loss of her mother. Structured innovatively in
precise vignettes, it stares down questions of emotional
inheritance, belonging, grief and race. . . . The sense of
experimentation in What We Lose includes excerpts from other
writers and a number of illustrations. . . . The nontraditional
structure of the book, which is not chronological but thematic,
mimics loss itself--the fragmentation and persistence of memory in
the face of what comes next, like having a child or falling in
love."
--Agatha French, The Los Angeles Times "A debut of haunting
fragments. . . . The novel sets out to do important work: to
explore the contours of race, class and gender and the legacy of
apartheid; and it succeeds best when exploring these ideas through
the delicately drawn and profoundly moving portrait it offers of a
relationship between mother and daughter."
--The Guardian "Remember this name: Zinzi Clemmons. Long may she
thrill us with exquisite works like What We Lose, her debut. Young
Thandi, our heroine, grows up in Pennsylvania feeling like a fish
on a bicycle. Why? As a biracial woman whose mother hails from
Johannesburg, South Africa, she struggles to define home. In
Clemmons's hands the book is a remarkable journey."
--Patrick Henry Bass, Essence "Debut novelist Zinzi Clemmons weaves
an autobiographically inspired tapestry with What We Lose. In a
moving series of vignettes that combine South Africa, Main Line
Philadelphia, and bloody headlines, this intimate narrative tells
the story of a mixed-race girl and her struggle to fit in--not so
much with the outside world as with herself when her life is
colonized by calamity."
--Vanity Fair "A gorgeous, taut narrative about grief, identity,
race, and sexuality enhanced by rap lyrics, archival photos,
drawings, graphs, and charts. . . . A beautiful example of
self-reflexive postmodern fiction."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer "This intimate novel from a talented
new writer follows Thandi, a Philadelphia girl with a South African
mom, who has a complicated relationship with her place in the
world. Through prose, text messages, photos, and book excerpts,
this cornucopia of storytelling activates all the feels."
--Steph Opitz, Marie Claire "Clemmons's debut novel could be
described as a coming-of-age saga without the fluff. . . . But from
another perspective, her linear mosaic is a way of rescuing
autofiction--that trendy blend of essay, memoir, and make
believe--from its own tendency toward shapelessness, because it's
anchored firmly in both a character and a story."
--Vulture.com "Stunning . . . The debut novel examines the
complicated, strange proximity of love, grief, and loss, and how
this manifests in the body . . . Clemmons skillfully draws on the
humor that stems from the duality of conflicting cultures. Her
prose is funny, fragile, and unflinchingly candid. Her characters
are as flawed as they are honest, confronting their own fragmented
relationships and identities."
--BOMB "Clemmons' debut novel is a stunning work about growing up,
losing your parents, and being an outsider. Perfect for fans of
tangled immigrant stories like Americanah."
--Glamour.com "Stunning . . . What We Lose doesn't attempt to
answer any of the questions it raises. Instead, it dwells in
them--in ways that are sad, sometimes funny--and gives readers a
sense of what it's like to be constantly haunted in that
headspace."
--Kevin Nguyen, GQ.com "Zinzi Clemmons' powerful debut novel tells
the story of Thandi, a woman raised in Philadelphia who's
struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother, who left
behind a complicated legacy of her own."
--Cosmopolitan.com "Intelligent and deeply visceral, What We Lose
has been hailed as the debut novel of the year with good reason:
the melancholic prose is so razor sharp, you think you come away
bleeding."
--Harper's Bazaar "This hauntingly honest novel celebrates the
coming-of-age tale of a young African-American woman who chooses to
live vibrantly in the face of loss, adversity, and devastation.
Promised to be one of the most influential new voices in fiction,
Zinzi Clemmons is a must for any serious beach reader. This is
2017's most raw literary display of female emotions."
--Redbook "The buzz around this debut is more like a roar."
--The Millions "What We Lose sustains a light touch while feeling
out the weightiest parts of life and loss."
--Estelle Tang, Elle.com's The Best Books of 2017 (So Far) "Zinzi
Clemmons uses a poetic style, rich imagery, and fervent
introspection to delve deep into the heart of racial divides,
economic guilt, and the severe desperation of loss in her debut
novel. . . . What We Lose innovates the story of grief."
--AV Club (A-) "On family, mourning, and being mixed race."
--New York magazine's "Approval Matrix" (Highbrow/Brilliant) "A
moving coming of age story. . . Through beautiful prose, Clemmons
addresses loss and the impact of our identities."
--Real Simple "Electric. . . . Fiercely intimate."
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch "An experimental fiction masterpiece. . .
. A tour de force and an intelligent and stormy debut."
--Bitch magazine "A stunning coming-of-age story. . . . Clemmons
deftly explores this problem of feeling in-between, and how an
absence of any distinct identity is its own difficult category of
being. With lyrical prose, Clemmons offers up one of the best
meditations on love, grief, and what it means to find yourself that
we've come across in ages."
--Nylon "The best debut of the year thus far. . . . The kind of
novel you might find yourself marking up as you underline a
sentence on every other page. Clemmons's prose is sharp, and though
the book is slim, it's a rich novel with more depth and innovation
than many novels double its length."
--The Chicago Review of Books "A stunning debut novel about a young
African American woman and the kaleidoscope of identity."
--Los Angeles Daily News "[A] poetic coming-of-age debut about the
black experience, told in vignettes. You'll feel like you've
climbed into the narrator's head--in the best way."
--Glamour "One of the most anticipated literary debuts of the
year."
--Men's Journal.com
"In the tradition of fiercely intelligent writers like Zadie Smith
and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Clemmons' writing is an act of
resistance and capacious grace."
--Kirkus Reviews "A lyrical and hip meditation on grief, identity,
family and romance that almost reads like a memoir."
--Newsday "A short stunner that can be read in a single sitting,
What We Lose is an elegy for the self that dies alongside a beloved
parent."
--Ploughshares.com "What We Lose may be Clemmons' first book, but
it's clear she's a powerful new voice who is just getting
started."
--The Gazette (Iowa) "Perfect for fans of Americanah, the
much-anticipated debut from Clemmons unfolds through poignant
vignettes and centers on the daughter of an immigrant. Raised in
Philadelphia, Thandi is the daughter of a South African mother and
an American father. Her identity is split, and when her mother
dies, Thandi begins a moving, multidimensional exploration of grief
and loss."
--BookPage "A big, brainy drama told by a fearless, funny young
woman. . . . Prepare for Thandi's voice to follow you from room to
room long after you put this book away. A compelling exploration of
race, migration, and womanhood in contemporary America."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Spectacular. . . . Clemmons
performs an exceptional sleight of hand that is both affecting and
illuminating."
--Booklist (starred review) "Like debut author Clemmons, narrator
Thandi is the Pennsylvania-grown daughter of a South African mother
and an American father. In the novel, constructed of precise,
charged vignettes, Thandi traces her parents' history and her own
upbringing; meanwhile, her strong-willed mother is dying of cancer.
Thandi is left searching for meaning, and sorting through her
scattered internal collage of experiences to piece together a
cohesive racial and personal identity."
--The Huffington Post "Exacting reflections on race, mourning, and
family. . . . Clemmons admirably balances the story's myriad
complicated themes."
--Publishers Weekly "Penetratingly good and written in vivid still
life, What We Lose reads like a guided tour through a melancholic
Van Gogh exhibit--wonderfully chromatic, transfixing and bursting
with emotion. Zinzi Clemmons's debut novel signals the emergence of
a voice that refuses to be ignored."
--Paul Beatty, author of The Sellout "An intimate narrative that
often makes another life as believable as your own."
--John Edgar Wideman, author of Writing to Save a Life "The
narrator of What We Lose navigates the many registers of grief,
love and injustice, moving between the death of her mother and the
birth of her son, as well as an America of blacks and whites and a
South Africa of Coloreds. What an intricate mapping of inner and
outer geographies! Clemmons's prose is rhythmically exact and
acutely moving. No experience is left unexamined or
unimagined."
--Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland "Zinzi Clemmons' first book
heralds the work of a new writer with a true and lasting voice--one
that is just right for our complicated millennium. Bright and
filled with shadows, humor, and trenchant insights into what it
means to have a heart divided by different cultures, What We Lose
is a win, just right for the ages."
--Hilton Als, author of White Girls "I love how Zinzi Clemmons
complicates identity in What We Lose. Her main character is both
South African and American, privileged and outsider, driven by
desire and gutted by grief. This is a piercingly beautiful first
novel."
--Danzy Senna, author of New People "It takes a rare, gifted writer
to make her readers look at day-to-day aspects of the world around
them anew. Zinzi Clemmons is one such writer. What We Lose immerses
us in a world of complex ideas and issues with ease. Clemmons
imbues each aspect of this novel with clear, nuanced thinking and
emotional heft. Part meditation on loss, part examination of
identity as it relates to ethnicity, nationality, gender and class,
and part intimate look at one woman's coming of age, What We Lose
announces a talented new voice in fiction."
--Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House "Wise and tender and
possessed of a fiercely insightful intimacy, What We Lose is a
lyrical ode to the complexities of race, love, illness, parenthood,
and the hairline fractures they leave behind. Zinzi Clemmons has
gifted the reader a rare and thoughtful emotional topography, a map
to the mirror regions of their own heart."
--Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
"Zinzi Clemmons pulls something off in What We Lose that I didn't
think was possible. She creates, in so many ways, a new form or new
narrative structure necessarily to explore the creases in how
gendered, raced and placed identities and desire are formed. But
she doesn't stop there. What We Lose is as much about the desire to
be delivered from memory and imagination as it is about love,
motherhood, and death. Clemmons somehow crafts a book that feels
familiar and wholly innovative. This searing novel is a marvel that
might change how we write and think about love, loss, place, gender
and race for decades to come."
--Kiese Laymon, author of Long Division
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