FictionMatters

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 [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781668077436], 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 [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780300288698]. 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 [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780300246308] by Richard Siken * The Perks of being a Wallflower [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780671027346]by Stephen Chbosky * Claudia Rankine [https://claudiarankine.com/] * Citizen [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781555976903] by Claudia Rankine * Mark Doty [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mark-doty] * Terrance Hayes [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/terrance-hayes] * Lighthead [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780143116967] by Terrance Hayes * Ben Lerner [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ben-lerner] * Zadie Smith [https://zadiesmith.com/] * Katie Kitamura [https://www.katiekitamura.com/] * Raven Leilani [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19238247.Raven_Leilani?from_search=true&from_srp=true] * Transcription [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780374618599] by Ben Lerner * Open City [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780812980097]by Teju Cole * Donna Tartt [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8719.Donna_Tartt] * Joan Didion [https://www.joandidion.org/] * Hilton Als [https://www.hiltonals.com/] * White Girls [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780143134756] by Hilton Als * Bluets [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781933517407] by Maggie Nelson * “You Are Jeff [https://genius.com/Richard-siken-you-are-jeff-annotated]” by Richard Siken * True Grit [https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781428193772-true-grit?srsltid=AfmBOoqnyx1rK0e22Cd09tI8bVv85wS2Sr2Ymnq2KDePSyRh0-jc6uKR]by Charles Portis (Audiobook read by Donna Tartt) * The Secret History [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781400031702]by Donna Tartt * Edmund White [https://edmundwhite.com/] * Audition [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593852323]by Katie Kitamura * Mary Oliver [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-oliver] * W.H. Auden [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/w-h-auden] * Chloe’s Scene by Jay McInerney [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/11/07/chloe-sevigny-profile-jay-mcinerney] * What I Saw at Taylor Swift’s Delirious Eras Tour [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/magazine/taylor-swift-eras-tour.html] by Taffy Brodesser-Akner * How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow Company Worth $250 Million [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/magazine/big-business-gwyneth-paltrow-wellness.html] by Taffy Brodesser-Akner * Another Country [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780679744719] 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 [https://fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Books That Matter: Nora Lange on A LIFE'S WORK by Rachel Cusk

Welcome to the FictionMatters Podcast; 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 Nora Lange. Nora’s debut novel Us Fools [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781953387516] was awarded the The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction, named a best book of 2024 by The Boston Globe and NPR, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, and a New York Times Editors’ Choice pick. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, The Believer, BOMB, Hazlitt, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from Brown University and is a fellow at USC’s Los Angeles Institute of the Humanities. She recently moved to Salt Lake City with her family. In this episode, Nora and I discuss Rachel Cusk’s classic motherhood memoir, A Life’s Work [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781250828255] as well as Nora’s new short story collection, Day Care [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781953387578], which published on April 7th Additionally, we both get a little personal about how motherhood has impacted our creative lives and Nora shares how her recent reads are all connecting back to her current work in progress. Books and Links * Day Care [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781953387578] by Nora Lange * When We Cease to Understand the World [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781681375663] by Benjamín Labatut * Philip Roth: The Biography [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781510769724] by Blake Bailey * The Dry Heart [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780811228787] https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780811228787by Natalia Ginzburg * A Life’s Work [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781250828255] by Rachel Cusk * All Fours [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593190272]by Miranda July * Live Flesh movie directed by Pedro Almodóvar [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118819/] * How Pregnancy and Childrearing Alter Our Perception of Time and Aging (Lit Hub) [https://lithub.com/how-pregnancy-and-childrearing-alter-our-perception-of-time-and-aging/] * The King’s English Bookshop [https://www.kingsenglish.com/] * Us Fools [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781953387516] by Nora Lange * Joan Didion [https://www.joandidion.org/] Connect with Nora * Website [https://www.noralange.com/] * Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/nora__lange/] * Order [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781953387578]Day Care [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781953387578] *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 [https://fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Olympic Figure Skating Debrief

Your girls are back! This Olympics was too dramatic to keep our commentary in the group chat so we’re back on mic to debrief it all. We chat through every event sharing our highlights and heartbreaks as well as answering some of your questions along the way. Plus we give some tips on how to keep up with the world of figure skating in between Olympic Games. You can follow Layne Fargo [https://substack.com/profile/6236956-layne-fargo] on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/laynefargo/?hl=en] and Substack. If you’re currently experiencing ice dance withdrawal, get yourself a copy of The Favorites [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593732069] and then read all about [https://www.goingfarwithlaynefargo.com/p/introducing-the-ice-queens]The Ice Queens [https://www.goingfarwithlaynefargo.com/p/introducing-the-ice-queens], coming in 2027. You can follow Denne Michele Norris on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/thedennemichele/?hl=en] and keep up with her work at Electric Literature through their IG [https://www.instagram.com/electricliterature/?hl=en] and website [https://electricliterature.com/]. Her debut novel When the Harvest Comes [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593729601] is out now and will release in paperback in April [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593729625]. Read, Watch, Listen * The Nice Capades [https://open.substack.com/pub/thenicecapades] * The Runthrough [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-runthrough/id1678259172] * The Runthrough Ice Dance Lore Part 1 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-79-the-ice-dance-lore-part-1/id1678259172?i=1000715417258] * Surya Bonaly’s 1998 Olympic free skate [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreoWzjej8k] * Ryan Bradley’s celebratory backflip [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpOFBo43UdM] * Ilia and Adam’s synchronized backflips [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4WIaVgp5tQ] * Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier free dance [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzUMI53hnfQ] * Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnak free dance [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDR9gQTrnfQ] * Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko free dance [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oy-pHax3uE] * Adam Siao Him Fa Olympic short program [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5e-ddfexzI] * Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara free skate [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o-zkIs-55g] * Alysa Liu Olympic free skate [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVmCfiFjoVE] * Amber Glenn Nationals short program [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlDI-he2VHM] * So You Want to Watch Figure Skating [https://www.soyouwanttowatchfs.com/] 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 [https://fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Books That Matter: Alli Hoff Kosik on PREP by Curtis Sittenfeld

Welcome to the FictionMatters Podcast. This is Books That Matter. In this series, I’ll talk with writers about reading to learn about their tastes, their habits, and the books that matter to them. Today, I’m joined by Alli Hoff Kosik. Alli is a full-time writer and editor. For seven years, she independently produced and hosted The SSR Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ssr-podcast/id1399330153]. Alli holds an MFA from Temple University and lives in Philadelphia with her family. Her debut novel Too Blessed to Stress comes out March 3rd. Alli has long been one of my favorite readers on the internet. Her fun and thoughtful examination of middle grade classics in the SSR Podcast is a wonderful example of conversational criticism and how every book, no matter the genre or intended audience, can be read with care and insight. Today, we get to apply that same framework to one of Alli’s favorite novels, Prep [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780812972351] by Curtis Sittenfeld [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780812972351]. Then, she shares a bit about her own debut novel, Too Blessed to Stress [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781538771969]. Kiley Reid calls Alli’s debut “a delightful satire full of tenderness and heart” and I couldn’t agree more. Watching Alli make the leap from public reader to published author has been incredible and I highly recommend listening to her Behind the Scenes of [https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/bts-tbts-behind-the-scenes-of-too-blessed-to-stress/id1869693435?l=nb]Too Blessed to Stress [https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/bts-tbts-behind-the-scenes-of-too-blessed-to-stress/id1869693435?l=nb] podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/bts-tbts-behind-the-scenes-of-too-blessed-to-stress/id1869693435?l=nb] all about her process. Too Blessed to Stress is out March 3rd, and you can preorder it now from Bookshop.org [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781538771969] or your favorite indie bookstore. Books and Links * Too Blessed to Stress [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781538771969] by Alli Hoff Kosik * The Wilderness [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780063318779] by Angela Flournoy * What a Time to Be Alive [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780063416390] by Jade Chang * The Wangs Vs. The World [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781328745538] by Jade Chang * Prep [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780812972351]by Curtis Sittenfeld * The Catcher in the Rye [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780316769488]by J.D.Salinger * Bloomability [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780064408233]by Sharon Creech * American Wife [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780812975406]by Curtis Sittenfeld * The Interestings [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781594632341] by Meg Wolitzer * Under the Influence [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781668004951]by Noelle Crooks * Workhorse [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781250360083] by Caroline Palmer * Kylie Reid [https://kileyreid.com/] Connect with Alli * Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/allihoffkosik?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==] * Is This a Thing? [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-this-a-thing/id1819214635] * Getting It Alli Together [https://allihoffkosik.substack.com/] * Pre-Order Too Blessed to Stress [https://bookshop.org/p/books/too-blessed-to-stress-alli-hoff-kosik/aa6dfb993b9448b2?ean=9781538771969&next=t&next=t&affiliate=1173] *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 [https://fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Best Stories in Olympic Figure Skating with Layne Fargo and Denne Michele Norris

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan have begun. The torch is lit and the figure skating team event is underway. As you may know, I’m a former figure skater, and I love the winter Olympics. And so, I couldn’t resist asking two of my favorite authors and fellow figure skating fans to join me to share our Olympic enthusiasm and give you a little preview of what to watch for. Layne Fargo is the bestselling author The Favorites [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593732069], They Never Learn [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9781982132033], and other fierce stories for fearless femmes. She is an ice-dance superfan and just announced a forthcoming novel, The Ice Queens [https://www.goingfarwithlaynefargo.com/p/introducing-the-ice-queens], set in the same high stakes ice dance world as The Favorites. She lives in Chicago with her partner and their pets. Denne Michele Norris is the editor and chief of Electric Literature [https://electricliterature.com/], winner of the 2022 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. Last year, Denne released her debut novel, When the Harvest Comes [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593729601] as well editing and publishing the essay collection Both / And [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780063414372]. A former figure skater herself, she is currently at work on a writing project that features figure skating. These women are two of my favorite people to talk about this sport with. They are knowledgeable, fiercely funny, and willing to talk shit when shit needs to be talked. I hope you love this conversation as much as I did and that it adds some joy into your Olympic viewing. Links * Follow Layne on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/laynefargo/?hl=en] and Substack [https://www.goingfarwithlaynefargo.com/] * Follow Denne on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/thedennemichele/?hl=en] and at Electric Literature [https://electricliterature.com/] * The Favorites [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593732069] by Layne Fargo * When the Harvest Comes [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593729601] by Denne Michele Norris * Both / And [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780063414372] by Denne Michele Norris * Glitter and Gold [https://www.netflix.com/title/82010449] * Deanna’s Dream [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFpy3nlvGEE] * Jane Torville and Christoper Dean’s “Bolero [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8obUdxnTlc]” * Michelle Kwan’s “The Red Violin” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THCWEri9o6U] * Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRjqNbM9RHM&list=RDSRjqNbM9RHM&start_radio=1&pp=ygUmdGVzc2EgYW5kIHNjb3R0IHVtYnJlbGxhcyBvZiBjaGVyYm91cmegBwE%3D] * Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s “Moulin Rouge” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOEKdWrtz6U&pp=ygUyVGVzc2EgVmlydHVlIGFuZCBTY290dCBNb2ly4oCZcyDigJxNb3VsaW4gUm91Z2XigJ0%3D] * Finding Her Edge [https://bookshop.org/a/1173/9780593350386] by Jennifer Iacopelli * Ice Princess [https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-925bc7fe-9210-46a4-b575-6ed5cf87e425] * The Cutting Edge [https://www.netflix.com/title/60003599] Get more FictionMatters podcast episodes by upgrading to a paid subscription! For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you! This email contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter! Happy reading! Sara 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 [https://fictionmatters.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]