Books to look out for in 2021
Irish fiction
New work that has been a long time coming generates a particular shiver of anticipation.
Small Things Like These (Faber, October) will be Claire Keegan’s first new work since her novella Foster, still a bestseller 10 years on. Her publisher says: “An exquisite wintery parable, Claire Keegan’s long-awaited return tells the story of a simple act of courage and tenderness, in the face of conformity, fear and judgment.” Small Things Like These (Faber, October) will be Claire Keegan’s first new work since her novella Foster, still a bestseller 10 years on. Photograph: Alan Betson
Everyone’s Talking About.
No One Is Talking About This (Bloomsbury, February) by Patricia Lockwood, the ‘Poet Laureate of Twitter’, is set to be one of 2021’s buzziest books: a riveting novel about the collision between real and online life.
Meanwhile, the sexy and absurdly readable Luster by Raven Leilani (Picador, January) is an unflinching interrogation of racial and sexual politics that carries ringing endorsements from Zadie Smith and Candice Carty-Williams.
Rahul Raina’s How To Kidnap The Rich (Little Brown, May) has already been optioned by HBO: a Delhi-set, reality TV-based literary crime crossover, it will appeal to fans of Parasite and Crazy Rich Asians.
Festive Five TV Highlights for Tuesday
Updated / Tuesday, 22 Dec 2020
12:17
TV Editor
Today s TV tips include a look at the annual Christmas Busk on Dublin’s Grafton Street, The Big Christmas Rewind is pure nostalgia, and there’s the self-explanatory Being Bridget Jones . . .
The Busk - A Decade of Christmas on Grafton Street, 10.10pm, RTÉ One
That great busker and occasional Oscar winner Glen Hansard presents a look back at memorable moments from Dublin s annual open-air charity concert, and celebrates the work done to raise awareness about homelessness.
As you’re probably aware, this year’s event couldn’t happen due to the pandemic, but there was a
Real talkers (clockwise from top left) Munroe Bergdorf, Paapa Essiedu, Mel B, Brit Bennett, Jackie Kay, Nicola Adams, Lennie James and Lolly Adefope. Photographs: Yves Salmon; Emmanuel Robert Owusu-Afram; Sean Pressley; Jamal Yussuff-Adelakun; Chantel King; Anthony Francis; Pedro Oliveira. Illustrations: Nasreen Ahmed. All for the Guardian
Conversations this year have, by necessity, become more intentional than ever. The silence and stillness of the pandemic â which emptied streets, rolled cars into garages, quelled the chatter of local supermarkets â was both soothing and terrifying. No longer would you sit for hours making small talk with your favourite hair braider. No longer would you bump into a friend at the shops. Control over conversations reigned, at a time when the virus was taking over the rest of our lives.