Graham Sleight (2015) by Francesca Myman
Publishing lead-times being what they are, the extraordinary events of 2020 largely weren’t reflected in the books that came out in the year – or at least, not intentionally. I managed to read a good deal of thought-provoking SF and fantasy this year, but some books seemed even more relevant than expected because of the pandemic-shuttered world they emerged into. How posterity will view them – let alone how it’ll view the books that’ll doubtless follow about COVID itself – is a question for another day.
Samit Basu’s
Chosen Spirits (Simon & Schuster India) offered a picture of India that was, its author insisted, both a dystopia and less bad than some alternatives. It certainly dug into the country’s culture and how it might change under the pressures bearing down on it.
Manchester City of Literature is heading leads a creative lockdown festival of 18 virtual events from partners across the city The two week long celebration is centred around UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day (IMLD), which is takes place globally on 21 February. Manchester’s fourth annual IMLD event
(16-28th February, 2021) is a collaborative celebration of the city’s impressive cultural diversity which sees almost 200 languages spoken, making it the ‘UK’s language capital’ and likely to be the most linguistically diverse city in Europe, according to research by the University of Manchester. The 18 events, suitable for all generations, take in poetry, translation, community identity and international connections, including link ups with other UNESCO Creative Cities, and are delivered by Manchester City of Literature’s network of libraries, cultural venues, community groups, universities, schools, poets and writers.
A SHORT story written by a senior lecturer in creative writing at Leeds Trinity University will be read by British actor Christopher Eccleston at an online literary event. Withen, a story by senior lecturer and internationally renowned novelist Martyn Bedford, who lives in Ilkley, has been selected by Emmy award-winning actor and ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston to be read at a live event promoting Protest: Stories of Resistance, an anthology of protest fiction and essays. Protest: Stories of Resistance explores and commemorates key moments of British defiance and resistance movements. Martyn’s story features alongside the works of writers such as Kit de Waal, David Constantine, Courttia Newland, Jacob Ross, Sara Maitland and Alexei Sayle. The anthology also includes essays written by historians, sociologists and eyewitnesses.
2021 reading list: 20 anticipated books to look out for this year
The search for voice and identity as well as social and climate issues rule in this list of reads My First and Only Love by Sahar Khalifeh; translated by Aida Bamia. Published by Hoopoe. Courtesy American University in Cairo Press Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri. Courtesy Bloomsbury Asylum Road by Olivia Sudjic. Courtesy Bloomsbury The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji and the Case of the Foreigner in the English Village by Shrabani Basu. Courtesy Bloomsbury A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. Courtesy Bloomsbury
What is the equivalent of public poetry verse written at white heat after a momentous event in literary fiction?
In a blog post about the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack, Egyptian critic and novelist Sayed Tonsy Mahmoud turned to literary discussions in France. He proposed the useful term romans d’urgences. These are novels of urgency, emergency and immediacy. Yet, as he suggests, a potential problem with such responsive fiction (which I extend to include the conte, or short story, as well as the novel or roman) is that it simply reacts to current affairs. There is thus the danger of ephemerality.