Freedom: // Essays

A radically vulnerable and virtuosic inquiry into the pursuit of freedom and the interminable nature of struggle, from the award-winning author ofWhat We Lose

Weaving personal reflections with piercing insight and expansive vision across nine brilliant essays, Clemmons explores the complexities of the elusive concept of freedom. As the daughter of a South African mother and a Trinidadian-America father, she recounts growing up in the largely white, affluent town of Swarthmore, Pennsylvaniaand her frequent travels to Johannesburg, where the lofty promise of freedom was all around her. Coming of age amidst the euphoria of South Africa’s first all-race elections, she grapples with the legacy of Nelson Mandela and the shattered hope in the wake of the Obama era. Clemmons critiques the entrenched inequalities that haunt both countries, from the tragic loss of her childhood friend Robbie to the violence that often befalls women who have the audacity to be free.

In a deft mix of memoir, family history, criticism, and reportage, drawing on a vast range of material from Joan Didion to James Baldwin, political analysis and history to Clemmonss own experiences across the globe,Freedomis an incendiary exploration of race, sex, class, and inheritance. In elegiac prose, Clemmons trains her discerning eye on American institutions and mythologies, probing the bounds of liberation and autonomy to interrogate our most enduring questthe relentless pursuit of freedom for all.

Zinzi Clemmonsis the author ofWhat We Lose.She was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. A cofounder of the literary journalApogee, she lives in Northern California, where she serves as Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of California, Davis.

• Publisher: Viking
• Publish Date: June 9, 2026
• Pages: 256
• Language: English
• Type: Hardcover
• EAN/UPC: 9780735221741
• Dimensions: 8.3 X 5.5 X 0.6 inches | 0.76 pounds
• BISAC Categories: Politics, Society & Current Affairs, Biography & Memoir, Politics, Society & Current Affairs