Tayari Jones on friendship, writing, and choosing your ‘Kin’

Novelist Tayari Jones discusses her latest book, *Kin*, a story about two motherless girls in 1950s Louisiana and Atlanta, exploring themes of friendship, race, and identity. Jones reveals the novel came to her unexpectedly after a difficult period, including a health diagnosis of Graves' disease, and a struggle to complete a previous project. She reflects on her childhood in Atlanta during the child murders, and how that era and her parents' civil rights activism shaped her perspective. Jones also touches on the power of language, particularly Black vernacular English, and its ability to express complex emotions and experiences. The conversation also includes TV critic David Bianculli reviewing the latest TV shows.