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Rob Franklin

Biography

Rob Franklin

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.

Rob Franklin

Books by Rob Franklin

by Rob Franklin - Fiction

An arrest for cocaine possession on the last day of a sweltering New York summer leaves Smith, a queer Black Stanford graduate, in a state of turmoil as he is pulled into the court system and mandated treatment. It’s just weeks after the death of his beloved roommate, Elle, the daughter of a famous soul singer, and he’s still reeling from the tabloid spectacle --- as well as lingering questions around how well he really knew his closest friend. He flees to his hometown of Atlanta, only to buckle under the weight of expectations from his family of doctors and lawyers and their history in America. But when Smith returns to New York, it’s not long before he begins to lose himself to his old life --- drawn back into the city’s underworld, where his search for answers may end up costing him his freedom and his future.