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{{short description|American writer}}{{For|the baseball player|Chris Mazza}}
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'''Cris Mazza''' (born 1956) is an [[United States|American]] [[novelist]], short story and non-fiction writer.


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'''Cris Mazza''' (born 1956) is an American novelist, short story writer, and non-fiction author.
==Biography==
⚫
A native of [[Southern California]], she earned her BA and MA at [[San Diego State University]] and her MFA in writing at [[Brooklyn College]]. She has published nine novels, four collections of short stories, and a collection of essays. She is widely anthologized as an example of post-feminist, formalist, or contemporary experimental fiction. Her work often deals with second and third-wave feminist concerns as well as frank sexuality.


==Early life and education==
Along with Jeffrey DeShell, she coined the term "chick lit" for the edited anthology ''Chick Lit Postfeminist Fiction'' (1995) and the follow-up anthology ''Chick Lit 2: No Chick Vics'' (1996).<ref>[http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/writingpostfeminism/gutsy What is chick-lit?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> While originally meant to be ironic, the term was co-opted to define a very different sort of work.
A native of [[Southern California]], Mazza earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from [[San Diego State University]] and her Master of Fine Arts in writing at [[Brooklyn College]].


== Career ==
Mazza directs the Program for Writers at the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]].<ref>[http://www.uic.edu/depts/engl/programs/grad_english/creative_writing/index.htm]</ref>
⚫
Mazza has published 10 novels, six collections, and two memoirs.<ref>http://cris-mazza.com/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> She is widely anthologized as an example of post-feminist, formalist, or contemporary experimental fiction. Her work often deals with second and third-wave feminist concerns as well as sexuality.


Along with Jeffrey DeShell, Mazza used the term "chick lit" for the edited anthology ''Chick Lit Postfeminist Fiction'' (1995) and the follow-up anthology ''Chick Lit 2: No Chick Vics'' (1996).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/writingpostfeminism/gutsy|title=What is chick-lit? - Electronic Book Review|website=www.electronicbookreview.com|access-date=2008-01-06|archive-date=2018-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180415154140/http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/writingpostfeminism/gutsy|url-status=dead}}</ref> While originally meant to be ironic, the term was co-opted to define a very different sort of work. In 2007, Gretchen Kalwinsky of ''[[Time Out Chicago]]'' called Mazza "an award-winning author who has waged a one-woman war against the chick-lit genre".<ref name="Time Out">{{cite web |url=http://media.virbcdn.com/files/6d/238b37b75389db71-clip_TOC_107_Books_ostreet.pdf |title=Chicks and Balances |first=Gretchen |last=Kalwinsky |work=[[Time Out Chicago]] |issue=107 |date=March 15–21, 2007 |accessdate=April 6, 2016 |archive-date=April 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423050236/http://media.virbcdn.com/files/6d/238b37b75389db71-clip_TOC_107_Books_ostreet.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
She won the PEN / Nelson Algren Award for her novel "How to Leave a Country."<ref>[http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-933368-84-5 Soft Skull: Waterbaby by Cris Mazza]</ref>


During an interview with ''[[Rain Taxi]]'', Mazza termed her 2013 memoir, ''Something Wrong With Her'' a ‘meta-memoir.’ The memoir explores sexual dysfunction.<ref>Farkas, Andrew. http://www.raintaxi.com/an-invisible-interview-with-cris-mazza/ "An Invisible Interview with Cris Mazza." Rain Taxi. Spring 2014.</ref>
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In addition, Cris Mazza received an &NOW award in 2009 for her story “Trickle-Down Timeline,” published in ''The &NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing'' in 2009. Mazza has also participated in the biennial &NOW festival.

Mazza directs the Program for Writers at the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uic.edu/depts/engl/programs/grad_english/creative_writing/index.htm|title=UIC Department of English Homepage|website=www.uic.edu}}</ref> She won the PEN / Nelson Algren Award for her novel ''How to Leave a Country''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-933368-84-5 |title=Soft Skull: ''Waterbaby'' by Cris Mazza |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109175117/http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-933368-84-5 |archivedate=November 9, 2007 |accessdate=August 14, 2017 }}</ref>

⚫
In addition, Mazza received an &NOW award in 2009 for her story "Trickle-Down Timeline," published in ''The &NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing'' in 2009. She has also participated in the biennial &NOW festival.

In 2016, Mazza co-produced and starred in the independent film, ''Anorgasmia''. Based on her memoir, ''Something Wrong With Her'', the film continues the struggles of sexual frustration felt by Mazza. Despite acting as a fictional sequel to the memoir, the film continues with the memoir's themes, exploring the conflicts and anxieties of sexual frustration.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cris-mazza.com/projects/|title = Film & Music &#124; Cris Mazza}}</ref>

In 2020, Mazza was asked to be the finalist judge for the Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Prize Contest. She selected Molly Giles's short story collection ''Wife with'' ''Knife'' as the winner.


== Works ==
== Works ==

⚫
*''Animal Acts'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 1988)
Published Writing:
⚫
*''Is It Sexual Harassment Yet?'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 1991)
⚫
* ''Animal Acts'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 1988)
⚫
*''How to Leave a Country: a novel'' (1992)
*''Revelation Countdown'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 1993)
* ''Is It Sexual Harassment Yet?'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 1991)
*''Dog People: a novel'' (1997)
* ''How to Leave a Country: a novel'' (1992)
*''Former Virgin'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 1997)
* ''Revelation Countdown'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 1993)
⚫
* ''Dog People: a novel'' (1997)
*''Girl Beside Him'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 2001)
⚫
* ''Former Virgin'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 1997)
⚫
*''Indigenous: Growing up Californian'' ([[City Lights Publishers|City Lights]], 2003)
*''Homeland'' (Red Hen Press, 2004)
* ''Girl Beside Him'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 2001)
⚫
* ''Indigenous: Growing up Californian'' ([[City Lights Publishers|City Lights]], 2003)
*''Disability'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 2005)
*''Many Ways to Get It, Many Ways to Say It'' (Chiasmus Press, 2005)
* ''Homeland'' (Red Hen Press, 2004)
*''Waterbaby'' (Soft Skull Press, 2007)
* ''Disability'' ([[Fiction Collective 2|FC2]], 2005)
*''Various Men who Knew us as Girls'' (Emergency Press, 2011)
* ''Many Ways to Get It, Many Ways to Say It'' (Chiasmus Press, 2005)
* ''Waterbaby'' (Soft Skull Press, 2007)
* ''Various Men Who Knew Us as Girls'' (Emergency Press, 2011)
* ''Something Wrong With Her'' (memoir, 2013)

Film:
* ''Anorgasmia'' (independent film, 2016)


== References ==
== References ==
Line 31: Line 46:


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.cris-mazza.com/ Website]
* [http://www.cris-mazza.com/ Website]
* [http://www.fc2.org/authors/mazza/interview.html an interview with Cris Mazza (FC2)]
*{{worldcat id|lccn-n87-906681}}
*[http://www.fc2.org/authors/mazza/interview.html an interview with Cris Mazza (FC2)]
* [http://www.raintaxi.com/an-invisible-interview-with-cris-mazza/ An Invisible Interview with Cris Mazza]

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{{Authority control}}


⚫
{{Authority control|VIAF=57558063}}
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Mazza,Cris
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American writer
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1956
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazza, Cris}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazza, Cris}}
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Brooklyn College alumni]]


{{US-writer-stub}}

Latest revision as of 14:59, 28 August 2024

For the baseball player, see Chris Mazza.

Cris Mazza (born 1956) is an American novelist, short story writer, and non-fiction author.

Early life and education

[edit]

A native of Southern California, Mazza earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from San Diego State University and her Master of Fine Arts in writing at Brooklyn College.

Career

[edit]

Mazza has published 10 novels, six collections, and two memoirs.[1] She is widely anthologized as an example of post-feminist, formalist, or contemporary experimental fiction. Her work often deals with second and third-wave feminist concerns as well as sexuality.

Along with Jeffrey DeShell, Mazza used the term "chick lit" for the edited anthology Chick Lit Postfeminist Fiction (1995) and the follow-up anthology Chick Lit 2: No Chick Vics (1996).[2] While originally meant to be ironic, the term was co-opted to define a very different sort of work. In 2007, Gretchen Kalwinsky of Time Out Chicago called Mazza "an award-winning author who has waged a one-woman war against the chick-lit genre".[3]

During an interview with Rain Taxi, Mazza termed her 2013 memoir, Something Wrong With Her a ‘meta-memoir.’ The memoir explores sexual dysfunction.[4]

Mazza directs the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.[5] She won the PEN / Nelson Algren Award for her novel How to Leave a Country.[6]

In addition, Mazza received an &NOW award in 2009 for her story "Trickle-Down Timeline," published in The &NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing in 2009. She has also participated in the biennial &NOW festival.

In 2016, Mazza co-produced and starred in the independent film, Anorgasmia. Based on her memoir, Something Wrong With Her, the film continues the struggles of sexual frustration felt by Mazza. Despite acting as a fictional sequel to the memoir, the film continues with the memoir's themes, exploring the conflicts and anxieties of sexual frustration.[7]

In 2020, Mazza was asked to be the finalist judge for the Leapfrog Press Global Fiction Prize Contest. She selected Molly Giles's short story collection Wife with Knife as the winner.

Works

[edit]

Published Writing:

  • Animal Acts (FC2, 1988)
  • Is It Sexual Harassment Yet? (FC2, 1991)
  • How to Leave a Country: a novel (1992)
  • Revelation Countdown (FC2, 1993)
  • Dog People: a novel (1997)
  • Former Virgin (FC2, 1997)
  • Girl Beside Him (FC2, 2001)
  • Indigenous: Growing up Californian (City Lights, 2003)
  • Homeland (Red Hen Press, 2004)
  • Disability (FC2, 2005)
  • Many Ways to Get It, Many Ways to Say It (Chiasmus Press, 2005)
  • Waterbaby (Soft Skull Press, 2007)
  • Various Men Who Knew Us as Girls (Emergency Press, 2011)
  • Something Wrong With Her (memoir, 2013)

Film:

  • Anorgasmia (independent film, 2016)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ http://cris-mazza.com/ [bare URL]
  2. ^ "What is chick-lit? - Electronic Book Review". www.electronicbookreview.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-15. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
  3. ^ Kalwinsky, Gretchen (March 15–21, 2007). "Chicks and Balances" (PDF). Time Out Chicago. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 23, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  4. ^ Farkas, Andrew. http://www.raintaxi.com/an-invisible-interview-with-cris-mazza/ "An Invisible Interview with Cris Mazza." Rain Taxi. Spring 2014.
  5. ^ "UIC Department of English Homepage". www.uic.edu.
  6. ^ "Soft Skull: Waterbaby by Cris Mazza". Archived from the original on November 9, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  7. ^ "Film & Music | Cris Mazza".
[edit]
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