Great Black Hope

Born and raised in Atlanta, Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction and poetry, and a cofounder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer Award, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus among others. Franklin lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Great Black Hope is his first novel.

‘A beautifully expansive novel about race and class… Franklin’s emotional and intellectual range is vast…. An exceptional debut.’ Katie Kitamura, author of Audition and Intimacies ‘It’s thrilling to see any author today aiming for the big stuff all at once: death, race, sex, class, addiction. It’s beyond thrilling – incandescent, even – when a writer like Rob Franklin comes along with the formal virtuosity to carry those lofty conceptual ambitions. Franklin’s prose is eminently readable, frequently laugh-out-loud funny, and full of sentences I want to cut out and glue to my forehead. This book is so smart, so moving, so earned; as soon as I finished, I started reading it again.’ Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author of Martyr! ‘Rob Franklin’s debut novel, Great Black Hope, is a masterpiece – at once fresh and original while delighting the reader with hints of Franzen, McInerney, Baldwin. The specificity of the language is like fine lacework, a beauty to behold. This novel – a whodunit, a coming-of-age, a New York novel – heralds the arrival of a rarefied talent. Wow wow wow.’ Elin Hilderbrand, author of Swan Song ‘Great Black Hope is at once a novel of crime – with a gripping pace, propelled by a question that needs answering – and a timeless coming of age story.’ Rumaan Alam, author of Entitlement ‘The music of Rob Franklin’s writing is so seductive, you won’t even notice the shiv until it’s too late.’ Saeed Jones, author of Alive at the End of the World ‘Great Black Hope indeed! Rob Franklin’s brilliant storytelling explores and explodes every fact and fiction of those charged words; likewise, the intricacies and treacheries of privilege. Those categories we parse so confidently – class, race, gender sexuality – are shaped into nuanced individual stories. His prose is elegant and searching, his pace flawless from start to finish.’ Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland ‘Rob Franklin’s prose is rich, mesmerizing, and utterly gorgeous. Through each remarkable sentence, Franklin takes you through a meditation on one Black queer man's struggle with the confinement of his choices under the magnifying glass of wealthy America.’ Leila Mottley, author of Nightcrawling ‘What a marvel to discover a voice so authentic, urgent, and undeniable. Great Black Hope is a rare thing: a coming-of-age novel that examines the individual as well as the complex systems that shape his life. An intensely intimate yet expansive work of art.’ Tania James, author of Loot ‘The precision and ecstasy of Rob Franklin's prose had me entranced. Great Black Hope marks the arrival of a breathtakingly talented writer.’ Megha Majumdar, author of A Guardian and a Thief ‘Great Black Hope will allow you to vicariously experience a sweltering summer in the city – though this debut is much more than a simple tale of hedonism.’ BBC Culture ‘A book about New York that’s part love letter, part reckoning; a tale of glamorous club kids and their sometimes bleak inner lives; and an account of the way privilege and race intersect. Franklin grounds his lyrical writing with granular details, from sidestreets to brand names, in a book that really convinces. This fine debut probes grief, friendship, hedonism and the hard edges of the city as it walks a young man towards a second chance he knows others may not get.’ Guardian ‘If Tom Wolfe, Jay McInerney, and Margo Jefferson somehow collaborated, this might have been the delightful result.’ Atlantic  ‘A new voice in fiction to be reckoned with’ Harper’s Bazaar ‘Best Books of 2025’ ‘Revolving around a well-drawn protagonist, this is a sharply focused debut novel.’ Economist ‘Gripping’ Daily Mail