Ep. 415 The Feeling of Being Known with Tayari Jones

The Stacks

Traci Thomas

Arts, Society & Culture, Books, Literature

4.9 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today on The Stacks, we’re joined by bestselling author Tayari Jones to talk about her newest book, Kin. This novel follows the lifelong friendship between Vernice and Annie, two motherless girls whose paths diverge in adulthood. In our conversation, Tayari shares how Kin was the book she had to write, even though it was not the one she was contracted to write, why she avoided writing a historical novel until now, and how coming home to Atlanta has impacted her as a person and a novelist.

The Stacks Book Club pick for March is Paradise by Toni Morrison. We’ll be discussing the book with Namwali Serpell on March 25th.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks website: https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2026/3/11/ep-415-tayari-jones

Connect with Tayari: Instagram | Threads | Website | Facebook

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey everybody, it's me, Tracy, and I've got some exciting news for you. This year, the Stax is turning
0:06.0	eight years old, and we are celebrating with our very first meetup day. On Saturday, April 4th,
0:11.8	we are inviting you all to meet up in cities across the country and around the world to hang out,
0:17.3	play games, and build community around our shared love of all things, books,
0:21.4	reading, and of course, snacks.
0:23.9	Head to the stackspodcast.com slash meetup for more information.
0:27.4	Over there, you're going to find a list of all the cities we have meetup scheduled for.
0:31.4	You'll be able to RSVP.
0:32.5	And if you don't see a meetup near you, there's also information on how you can host one.
0:38.6	Again, the website is the stackspodcast.com slash meetup and meetup day is April 4th. The only thing you need to know about
0:45.1	naming characters, characters' names reflect their parents, not themselves. So the names should
0:51.7	contextualize where they come from, not necessarily who they are. Which is why, in real life, when you meet someone and they don't match their name, their parents are disappointed.
1:04.0	Like their parents wanted a Brittany and that's not what they got.
1:16.5	Welcome to the Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them.
1:23.8	I'm your host, Tracy Thomas, and today I am joined by best-selling author, Tayari Jones, to talk about her new book, Kin.
1:29.6	This beautiful novel follows Vernice and Annie, two motherlessless childhood best friends as they grow apart and together over the years. Today, Tayari and I talk about the power of female
1:35.2	friendship, what it means to be a black woman who returns to the American South, and how writing
1:40.1	a simple, beautiful novel can be one of the most challenging things. Our book club pick for March is Paradise by Tony Morrison.
1:47.2	We will be discussing the book on Wednesday, March 25th, with our guest, Namwali, Sirpel.
1:52.9	Everything we talk about on each episode of The Stacks is linked in our show notes.
1:56.4	If you like this podcast, if you want more bookish content and community, consider joining the Stacks pack on Patreon and subscribing to my newsletter unstacked over on Substack. Each place offers
2:06.7	different unique perks like community conversation and our virtual book club over on the Patreon.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Traci Thomas, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Traci Thomas and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.