Atlanta Magazine • Atlanta Magazine February 2026 • The Ties That Bind

In her new novel, Kin, the bestselling author and Emory professor explores yearning, loss, and love

Author Tayari Jones has a knack for weaving new threads through the familiar theme of family. That was true of An American Marriage, a bestseller selected for both Oprah’s Book Club and President Barack Obama’s summer reading list in 2018. Jones returns to family with her latest novel, Kin, out this month from Knopf. Annie and Niecy call themselves “cradle friends,” bonded by losing their mothers as infants. As they find their way in the world, both women long for the kin they never had and discover for themselves what else can forge a family.

Jones, who lives in Atlanta and is also a professor of English and creative writing at Emory University, sat down with Atlanta magazine for a conversation about her latest novel.

Atlanta: How did it feel working on a new novel after publishing an Oprah- and Obama-endorsed bestseller?

Tayari Jones: It did feel different because the only ambition I had was with my own writing. I’ve never written a historical novel like this before, so my ambition was to learn something new. But I didn’t have ambition in terms of I want to be a bestseller or I want to make Oprah, because I had done these things, and it seemed almost rude to try to do those things again.

The real pressure was from the world. After the pandemic, the summer of George Floyd, I had to become reinvested in my belief in literature as a way to change the world, to change hearts and minds. In 2020, the needs were so urgent and immediate. I didn’t have faith in the efficacy of what I had to give, and it was very difficult to immerse myself in fiction with the same kind of call to action that I had felt previously. Nevertheless, writing, storytelling—that was what I had to give. I just had to. It’s the only thing I can do.

Atlanta: Your work often reflects on family and all its complications. What drew you to tell this particular story about Annie and Niecy and what family means to them?

Jones: I think the idea that blood isn’t what makes you family, we’ve kind of accepted that intellectually as a culture. But I think we have trouble actually feeling it.

And that is a thing Annie has to learn, that other people can be your family—but only if you let them. She has to let go of a fantasy of a mother she never met, because no real-life person can ever match up to the person in your imagination.

Atlanta: Tell us about writing about Atlanta— this city you grew up in, which you describe so vividly.

Jones: Everything else I’ve written has been about contemporary Atlanta. And I love revisiting my own memories, but writing about historical Atlanta was so interesting. Like writing about Rich’s Department Store just after it desegregated. I remember it as just kind of a mundane part of my childhood. I mean, the thing I remember most about Rich’s was the Pink Pig.

So to look at the department store, and the Magnolia Room [inside Rich’s], to think about what it meant as a site of freedom and liberation—that was so interesting. But also, whether or not this seat at the table was hard-earned by the demonstrators, my character is still in a really uncomfortable lunch there with her ex and her mother. You know what I mean? Like, people’s lives happen while these other things are happening.

Jones: I really hope that people walk away understanding that none of the issues that we are grappling with today are not new. That we are part of a lineage of people trying to make this a more just world. And I would like people to feel motivated to continue this resistance; not just resistance in terms of marching in the street—though I totally endorse that—but also realize that the way you conduct your personal, private life is also an act of resistance, if you live with dignity and integrity.

UpTempo ASO In the evening, the symphony performs works from Leonard Bernstein and others. Before the concert is UpTempo Teen Night, where students in grades 6 to 12 will learn insights about the evening’s music. • February 12

Mosier Brothers Jeff and Johnny Mosier are Atlanta bluegrass and jam band institutions. They helmed the band Good Medicine, then the nationally known Blueground Undergrass. They bring their full band to Eddie’s Attic. • February 1

Giselle Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Atlanta Ballet brings back a classic full of ghosts and broken hearts and redemption. Artistic Director Gennadi Nedvigin steps out to choreograph and stage the piece. • February 13–15