David Gutowski

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/p/happy-21st-b…

"Receiving a mixtape was the highest honor; making one, the greatest responsibility." Hugh Ryan shared a playlist for his book, My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer Nineties and Beyond at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/25/hug…

"In true '90s fashion, at one point, I sent him a mix tape." Amy Crider shared a playlist for her memoir Catching an Orange at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/22/amy…

"I listened to so much music as I wrote. I love music. And I included a lot of it, knitted into the writing. I can't imagine writing novels without music, honestly." Caitlin Shetterly shared a playlist for her novel The Gulf of Lions at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/21/cai…

"This is a set list of brokenhearted love songs, so listen to it when you want exactly that" @Rebecca Chace shared a playlist for her novel Talking to the Wolf at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/21/reb…

"...when you’re looking for a certain entry point to your writing, a tone or mood or feeling (grim in this case), then it's nice to have a song that can ease you into that mood as into a warm bath." Nick Cutter shared a playlist for his novel The Dorians largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/19/nic…

"In the days after I came out, I would sit in my small house, cut off from everything...Music brought me a lot of deep healing as I learned how to be okay." largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/18/cha…

"...the protagonist is a music lover, a concert goer, and music of a certain kind, in a certain register, can be imagined as floating around the edges of the story." Eric Beck Rubin shared a playlist for his novel Ten Clear Days at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/15/eri…

"At the keyboard in the morning, I feel the pressure to perform. To sing. I love a musical sentence." TJ Fuller shared a playlist for his story collection Some Stupid Glow at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/14/tj-…

"Much of my book Afternoon Hours of a Hermit concerns memory and the techniques of fiction which I have tried to pass onto my students." Patrick Cottrell shared a playlist for his novel Afternoon Hours of a Hermit at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/13/pat…

"The Coffin of Honey has an internationalist point of view, and this playlist inevitably reflects that." Geoffrey D. Morrison shared a playlist for is novel The Coffin of Honey at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/13/geo… @coachhousebooks

"The playlist features songs from seductive Haiti, sexy and spiritual 1950s New York City and festive and soulful Brazil..." Dimitry Elias Léger shared a playlist for his novel Death of the Soccer God at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/12/dim…

"I’ve always used music as a crowbar to access emotions that I usually hide from myself." Sam Beckbessinger shared a playlist for her debut novel Femme Feral at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/12/sam…

"The book is full of songs playing in cafés..., on tape decks in kitchens and living-room turntables, broadcast on pirate radio or performed by punk bands in sweaty, crowded rooms." Jeff Miller shared a playlist for his novel Temporary Palaces largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/11/jef…

"In 2017, when I was struggling daily with the growing desire to die, I made a playlist. The playlist was thirty-one songs, all by the Mountain Goats, titled simply: stay alive." Madeline Vosch shared a playlist for her memoir Undead at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/11/mad…

“Music plays throughout my novel, Hidden River...its emotional heart is lodged squarely in the mid ‘80s to early ‘90s, when any Gen Xer could tell you: music was life.” Sara Lippmann shared a playlist for her novel Hidden River at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/08/sar…

"What follows is an eclectic playlist that could make you cry or dance or say 'what the fuck?' As with all good things, it ends with Cher." Alexa Yasemin Brahme shared a playlist for her debut novel Good News at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/07/ale…

"As soon as I started writing Immersions I knew the bad boy of the novel would be named Johnny. All bad boys are named Johnny..." Kyle McCarthy shared a playlist for her novel Immersions at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/06/kyl…

"I was thinking about big beautiful pop music – the feelings of euphoria or heartbreak that a key change or a bridge can bestow on you..." Ana Kinsella shared a playlist for her debut novel Frida Slattery As Herself at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/05/ana…

"Music is a tool I use to block out the metaphorical and literal noise." Andrew Dana Hudson shared a playlist for his novel Absence at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/05/and…

"I have a DJ past, and the soundtrack was a way for me to add new layers of subtext to the writing." Alicia Kennedy shared a playlist for her book On Eating at @largeheartedboy largeheartedboy.com/2026/05/01/ali…