I wrote my first author bio when I was five. In it, I predict my own death at 100 years old. I basically knew nothing back then except that I liked to write and that one day I would die. Has anything changed? My debut novel, KITTEN, is about growing up. Being completely, catastrophically out of place. Mothers. And a love triangle involving a cat. I wanted to write a book that took the non-human and the childish seriously. I wanted to look closely at helplessness, and its other side, agency, how the two intersect with class and family and age and race. I wanted to make something that was as playful as it was sincere. Above all, I wanted to tell this story of a young woman at the beginning of the rest of her life. I’m so grateful Kitten has found a home in Random House, an imprint close to my heart. Thank you is too small a phrase for my brilliant agent Meredith @we_were_here , but I’ll say it anyway—thank you for your intellect, care, and magic. And thank you to my editor, Miriam, for the conversation that could’ve gone on forever. Now, it can! Kitten will be ready to play soon*!!! 🐈‍⬛🥛🌟 *in 18-24 months