Today is @largeheartedboy's 21st birthday. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the site's success. Writers, musicians, booksellers, friends, readers, and publishers have all been essential parts of the books + music equation (that equals love) largeheartedboy.substack.com…

"Working in solitude, alone in a tiny closet, would have been maddening without music." Matt Kish shared a playlist for his book Moby-Dick in Pictures at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"World News from Waverley High is set against the backdrop of national unrest and some of the most vital music ever created." Linda Kass shared a playlist for her novel World News from Waverley High at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"I love the difference between authors who have favorite songs on deep background, giving them the feeling of their life...." James Elkins shared a playlist for his novel Stories, Like Illnesses at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"Without music, this book wouldn’t exist. I’d just have a volcano, but with no place to put it." Bradley Sides shared a playlist for his novella The Volcano Keeper at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"One of my favorite scenes in the book shows Tom being so heartbroken by listening to this song that his wife realizes he is in love with someone else—the person who bought him the record." Silas House shared a playlist for his novel The Tulip Poplars largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"Short stories and songs, especially pop songs, are very similar forms. Both are capable of structural perfection (unlike the novel, an essentially imperfectible form)." Adam O'Fallon Price paired songs with short stories at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"What’s reflected here is the music that first shaped me into a poet and songs that have specifically been in conversation with my six poetry collections as I was writing them." Erin Belieu shared a playlist for her poetry collection Cocklebur largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"I like a playlist that has a narrative shape." Daniel Pope shared a playlist for his debut novel Go Help Yourself at Largehearted Boy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"What is the sound of longing? Of taking a leap, which may look more like a fall? The music gathered here was playing in the background at some point when I wrote Blue Sunset." Denise Rose Hansen shared a playlist for her debut novel Blue Sunset largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"In the months following my mother’s death in the fall of 2022, I assigned myself the task of writing a story every day." Ben Ehrenreich shared a playlist for his book Hold Still at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"It’s a novel interested in exploring Henry’s radical interiority, his non-sequitur imagination, through an intensely subjective first-person point of view." Lance Olsen shared a playlist for his Henry Darger novel An Inventory of Benevolent Butterflies largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"I love listening to music when I write, and the right piece or album can bring me to a much more inspired, connected, focused place." Lee Bains shared a playlist for his poetry collection Work Lunch at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"During the act of writing, I never listen to music. External music is a distraction for me." P.J. Blumenthal shared a playlist for his story collection Self Portraits at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"Some of these songs...just sound like something bad is about to happen." Mallory Smart shared a playlist for her story collection Book of David at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"Fail Sons is a book about aging and mortality; fathers, sons, and brothers; failure and grief." Adam Wilson shared a playlist for his novel Fail Sons at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"Although I didn't listen to Billie Holiday while writing the novel, her music haunted my imagination throughout the process." Jocelyn Cullity shared a playlist for her novel The Nurse at Baker Hospital at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"Although I made a vibes playlist for the book early in my drafting process, I’m one of those people who can’t write to most songs..." Nafissa Thompson-Spires shared a playlist for her debut novel The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"Given the dialogic nature of our book it seems only right to have this playlist move back and forth..." David Naimon shared a playlist for his book of interviews with Ursula K. Le Guin at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…

"I had to set a chapter in hell, of course, and there's an echo of country music in my mind at least to a few of the chapters in the book." Grace Byron shared a playlist for her debut novel Herculine at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/10/…