The Best Short-Story Writer of His Generation?

On Zoom, Jamel Brinkley is much like his short stories: quiet and unassuming, funny, warm and generous with a sharp undertow of spiky intelligence. Minutes before getting on our call, I had mentioned him to novelist Xochitl Gonzalez, a former student of Brinkley’s at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. “Oh, Jamel!” Gonzalez said. “He’s the kindest, most generous teacher.”