Poet Rob Franklin’s debut novel centers around a 25-year-old queer, Black Stanford graduate named Smith who is reeling from an unexpected loss. Less than a month after the death of Elle, his best ...

We first meet David Smith Jr., simply known as Smith, in a nightclub in the Hamptons. But the party is about to come to a quick end. ROB FRANKLIN: (Reading) Picture him stumbling. Six feet and 3 ...

When asked what it felt like to pen his debut, Great Black Hope, Rob Franklin cites James Baldwin — a writer who had a similar experience, nearly 70 years prior. “His first novel, Go Tell It on the ...