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Tayari Jones’ book ‘Kin’ challenges readers’ assumptions about novels centering women

Tayari Jones, author of 'An American Marriage,' has a new book out— 'Kin.' 'Kin' is an emotional story about best friends growing in the Jim Crow-era and how their lives are shaped by the world around them. It's a New York Times Bestseller, and it's her second novel selected for Oprah's Book Club.
Julie Yarbrough
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Tayari Jones, author of 'An American Marriage,' has a new book out— 'Kin.' 'Kin' is an emotional story about best friends growing in the Jim Crow-era and how their lives are shaped by the world around them. It's a New York Times Bestseller, and it's her second novel selected for Oprah's Book Club.

Tayari Jones has had quite the literary career. Her 2018 novel An American Marriage was a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah’s Book Club Pick. Her latest novel, Kin came out earlier this year, and once again it was a bestseller and an Oprah’s Book Club Pick.

Kin tells the story of two Black girls— best friends who grow up in the Jim Crow era in a town called Honeysuckle, Louisiana. Neither one of them knows their mom, a fact that looms large in their lives. They both leave Honeysuckle— one for college and the other in search of her mom. They go on very different, sometimes heartbreaking journeys. But their shared childhood always binds them together.

GUEST:

  • Tayari Jones: Bestselling author of five novels, including An American Marriage and Kin, both of which were selected for Oprah's Book Club. She is Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University and the Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She was recently named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2026.

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Kevin Chang Barnum is a producer for Connecticut Public Radio’s weekly show Disrupted. Kevin grew up in Connecticut and started his radio work at his graduate university’s radio station, KUCI. He has also worked for HRN, a network of food and beverage podcasts.
Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is an award-winning scholar at Wesleyan University, author, and host of 'Disrupted' on Connecticut Public.
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Funding provided by:
The Connecticut Office of Film, Television and Digital Media

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