Word Up Community Bookshop Presents “Rob Franklin with Roxanne Gay”

“Smart, scintillating… Subjects that might make for solemn reading are rendered thoroughly absorbing by the author’s radiant prose and razor-sharp observations. A captivating novel of dissolution and redemption.” — Kirkus (Starred Review)

TICKETS are available at WithFriends.co/WordUp:
– $20 ticket with SING THE TRUTH
– $6 ticket without a book

Signing. All books will be presigned by the authors. The talk will be followed by a brief signing with Rob Franklin. Books must be purchased from Word Up to be signed. If you would like a signed copy and cannot attend the event, purchase a copy on WordUpBooks.com.

Accessibility. Harlem School of the Arts is a fully accessible building and follows standards issued under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Word Up Community Bookshop’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

ABOUT THE BOOK
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. Pulled into the court system and mandated treatment, he finds himself in an absurd but dangerous situation: his class protects him, but his race does not.

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.

Smith goes on a dizzying journey through the nightlife circuit, anonymous recovery rooms, Atlanta’s Black society set, police investigations and courtroom dramas, and a circle of friends coming of age in a new era. Great Black Hope is a propulsive, glittering story about what it means to exist between worlds, to be upwardly mobile yet spiraling downward, and how to find a way back to hope.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR
JP Infante is the author of On the Tip of Your Mother’s Tongue and Aquí y Allá: un retrato de la comunidad Dominicana en Washington Heights. He is the winner of PEN’s Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize and Thirty West’s Chapbook contest. He has been awarded scholarships and fellowships from Baldwin for the Arts, NY State Writers Institute, PEN America, and the Center for Fiction.