Here’s what’s making us happy this week.

We’re having a family-oriented week, here at Lit Hub. We’ve been catching our joy from real and fictional siblings, kids, and that ur-family, the union. 

To begin with the latter, James Folta is looking forward to a new show out now from Haymarket Audio. “Heat the Ground Up” is an oral history of Starbucks Workers United. Per James, Haymarket’s last original about the CIO was “very good,” so this new deep dive is sure to leave an impression.

Our staffer also wishes to shout out a “weird, good internet toy”: gradient.horse. (“If you were the kind of kid who made little flip books in the corners of your school books, you’ll love this.”)

Here are some of James’ horses. He’d love to see yours.

Drew Broussard spent last weekend in New Orleans for his sister’s birthday, which proved awesome for several reasons.

Our podcasts editor got to visit some good bookshops (Garden District Bookshop, Faulkner House, Baldwin & Co), and eat some great food (“The sandwiches at Turkey & the Wolf are in fact life-changing”), and see some excellent music (“Galactic at Tipitina’s, 14 year old me is losing his mind”). But family time took the King Cake.

And back East, Jonny Diamond’s cool teen turned him onto Sofia Isella, who is giving our fearless leader “so much faith in Gen Z.”

Isella, an intense new voice in the moody indie singer-songwriter space, is a singular performer. But according to Jonny, she represents “an incredible mix of Sinead O’Connor’s punk-coded righteous anger, Bjork’s organic weirdness, and Billie Eilish’s instinct for big pop hooks (with a live presence infused with Alice Cooper levels of filth).”

I cosign with this offering: the stirring, rude beat in “Above the Neck” makes a great exercise buddy.

I, Brittany Allen, have been enjoying a fictional family. Shannon Sanders’ Company, a linked story collection, was a highlight in my reading week. These wise, sharp, beautifully built stories depict five generations of the Collins cadre, a buppie Black family with roots in Atlantic City and Washington, D.C.

I picked the book up because the four sisters at its center reminded me of my own Maryland contingent. But I stayed for the weaving feat. Though we bop around in time and place, the magic of these pages lies in seeing how patterns and behaviors are passed down, generation to generation.

If you too have a big, chaotic family full of over-achieving aunts, do pick this up. (And join me in anticipating Sanders’ forthcoming novel, The Great Wherever.)

Wishing you a weekend full of nearest dearests.

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