Welcome to Books for Breakfast in 2021! We begin the year with a look at some noteworthy fiction from new and familiar writers. Books mentioned are:
The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin
A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion
Words to Shape My Name by Laura McKenna
Pure Gold by John Patrick McHugh
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
We Are Not in the World by Conor O’Callaghan
The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter
The Dark Room by Sam Blake
Life Sentences by Billy O’Callaghan
Nora: A Love Story of Nora and James Joyce by Nuala O’Connor
White City by Kevin Power
A Shock by Keith Ridgway
Weirdo by Zadie Smith and Nick Laird
Also mentioned was RTE’s Spoken Stories, Independence, a collection of 12 stories where authors write about what Independence means to them.
Today's Toaster Challenge Guest is Philip Coleman, Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and co -editor of The Selected Letters of John Berryman. We feature a rare recording of John Berryman reading from the Dream Songs and discuss Berryman's life, work and letters. Philip's Toaster Challenge is the groundbreaking new anthology, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle edited by Kevin Young.
Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it.
Artwork by Freya Sirr
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