I wanted to explore both sides of the complicated nature of that communication.” They can calcify people’s relationships with each other, sometimes, but can also be real sources of strength and comfort. I wanted to explore how families communicate with each other, and the ways they can be truthful in their communications, and then the ways that those languages that grow within families can also be dishonest and hide the truth. When asked by the Los Angeles Review of Books about how language develops within families, a theme of We Love You, Charlie Freeman, she responded, “That was the inspiration for the book.

She was also a contributing editor for LENNY Letter. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Her essays have appeared in Vogue, Glamour, the Wall Street Journal,, Buzzfeed, Transition Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, American Short Fiction and other places. Her most recent novel, the critically acclaimed Libertie (Algonquin Books, 2021) received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, who called it, “another genius work of radical historical fiction.” She is the author of the debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman (Algonquin Books, 2016), one of the New York Times Critics' Top 10 Books of 2016, which Buzzfeed called “masterful,” and Booklist praised as “wondrous.” She writes extensively on race and culture. Kaitlyn Greenidge is a novelist and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.

Libertie kaitlyn greenidge review