Books That Matter: Rob Franklin on CRUSH by Richard Siken

Welcome to the FictionMatters Podcast. I’m your host Sara Hildreth and this is Books That Matter. In this series, I’ll speak with writers I admire to learn about their lives as readers and deep dive into a book that matters to them.Today, I’m joined by Rob Franklin. Rob Franklin is the author of Great Black Hope, which was published in June 2025. A national bestseller, his debut novel was nominated for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence — it was named a “Best Book of the Year” by TIME, Vogue, NPR, and Vanity Fair, among others. A co-founder of Art for Black Lives, Franklin holds a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from NYU’s Creative Writing program. He teaches writing at School of Visual Arts and edits fiction for Joyland. He lives in New York.In this episode, Rob and I discuss Richard Siken’s debut poetry collection, Crush. Not only was this my first time reading Crush, I had never even heard of it before Rob’s recommendation. I found this collection to be urgent and astonishing. I’m so grateful to Rob for bringing it to my attention and for this fascinating discussion about poetic language, the development of taste, and the interplay between writer, reader, and text. I hope you love this conversation and that getting to know Rob as a reader encourages you to go pick up Great Black Hope–it’s an excellent summer read!Books and Links* Crush by Richard Siken* The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky* Claudia Rankine* Citizen by Claudia Rankine* Mark Doty* Terrance Hayes* Lighthead by Terrance Hayes* Ben Lerner* Zadie Smith* Katie Kitamura* Raven Leilani* Transcription by Ben Lerner* Open City by Teju Cole* Donna Tartt* Joan Didion* Hilton Als* White Girls by Hilton Als* Bluets by Maggie Nelson* “You Are Jeff” by Richard Siken* True Grit by Charles Portis (Audiobook read by Donna Tartt)* The Secret History by Donna Tartt* Edmund White* Audition by Katie Kitamura* Mary Oliver* W.H. Auden* Chloe’s Scene by Jay McInerney* What I Saw at Taylor Swift’s Delirious Eras Tour by Taffy Brodesser-Akner* How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow Company Worth $250 Million by Taffy Brodesser-Akner* Another Country by James Baldwin*This post contains affiliate links. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe