ADULTHOOD

What does it mean to be an adult in America today? I’m working on a new nonfiction book that attempts to answer this question. The milestones that have been the benchmarks of adult life since the middle of the last century have been delayed or discarded—or are totally inaccessible these days. More and more of us are defining adulthood on our own terms. I'm talking to 100 people about their experiences of community and family, work and mobility, identity and belonging, growth and change. This book is about the hot mess years, gate-shut panic, the new midlife, kinkeeping, and other strange and mundane phenomena that define modern adulthood. It doesn’t have a title yet. Viking Books will publish it in 2026.

BIG FRIENDSHIP

I’m the co-author, with my friend Aminatou Sow, of the best-selling book Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close (Simon & Schuster, 2020). It’s about the joys and difficulties of staying friends for the long haul. Roxane Gay called it "deeply compelling." The New York Times declared it “thoughtful and highly readable.”

Find more info and a discussion guide at BigFriendship.com.