BZadie Smith was born in Willesden, London, in 1975 and studied English Literature at Cambridge University. Her bestselling debut novel White teethwon numerous awards and was adapted for stage and television. Her other novels include About Beauty, NW And Swing time; she has also published two short story collections, three volumes of essays and a play. She has twice been named one of Granta’s 20 best young British novelists. After a decade in New York, she now lives in north-west London with her husband, the poet Nick Laird, and their two children. Smith’s latest book, The fraud (Penguin), is now available in paperback.
1. Music
Being poor is expensive by Bashy
This is Bashy’s first album in 15 years: I love it. The production, the writing skill, the passion. In New York, my students were often poorly attuned to UK hip-hop and grime: “There’s no narrative: it’s just blip blip blap blap.” But Bashy is a consummate storyteller, although his own story – from bus driver to rapper to actor – is only the beginning here. He paints a comprehensive picture of what it was like growing up in a rough area of north-west London in the ’80s. I particularly like the first track – The London Borough of Brent – very much.. It starts with the subway announcements you hear on the Jubilee Line. Music to my ears!
2. Television
The Decameron (Netflix)
I don’t know how faithful it is to the original (by Giovanni Boccaccio, 1353) – haven’t read it; will read it now – but as a tragicomedy about a plague, it is brilliantly written and very provocative. Every delusional phase of lockdown is represented here: the Zoom cocktails, the ill-advised parties, the absolute despair, the fear and loathing, the violent thoughts… but all set in medieval Florence. It’s cheesy yet funny, and rather than casting huge stars and hoping for the best, every actor fits their role like a glove, especially Douggie McMeekin, who plays the archetypal man-baby obsessed with the goings-on of ancient Rome.
3. Book
Bonding by Mariel Franklin
The best British debut I’ve read in a long time. Many novelists (myself included) write about technology without really knowing much about how it works. Bonding is a rare debut that is as intelligent as it is stylish. It’s about a woman who works behind the scenes for a sex app – not unlike the real-life Feeld – and it’s very sharply written. But it goes beyond simple “tech satire”. For me, this novel is a critique of an entire society that is being undermined by neoliberal deregulation and manipulated by algorithms. Somehow it’s also very funny and sexy. The whole package.
4. Art
Intricate Pasts, 1768-present: Art, colonialism and change, Royal AcademyLondon
Ranging from JMW Turner to Yinka Shonibare, from Joshua Reynolds to Hew Locke, this exhibition promised to look at Britain’s colonial past in all its fascinating depth. The legacies of empire and slavery, as well as the history of resistance and abolition. It was precisely these entangled pasts that interested me when I wrote The fraudand it’s exciting to think about the whole story again, but this time visually. I just ordered the catalog.
5. Concert
Chappell Roan
I don’t have Chappell Roan tickets. I wish I had Chappell Roan tickets. I kept putting “buy Chappell Roan tickets” on my to-do list and never got around to it, and then the week I was remembering turns out to be the week everyone realized how good she is, and now they’re gold dust. It’s like Kate Bush and Lady Gaga and Elkie Brooks and an alien had a baby. The style is perfect, the attitude ideal — but it’s the voice that blows you away. Incredible range and power. If you don’t have tickets either, try her NPR Tiny Desk concert — where she whips out a flip phone. A girl after my own heart.
6. Theatre
Coriolanus, National Theatre, London (September 11th – November 9th)
I recently re-read Shakespeare’s historical plays and his analysis of political contexts never seems to age – every time you re-read them you discover something new and absolutely relevant. We are currently living in an age of tragic wars: a very good time to Coriolanusin all its ambivalence and complexity. Is it a profound psychological portrayal of a warmonger? Or a structural analysis of the nature of war? Brecht, for example, staged it in a sceptical Marxist way, as a critique of the concept of the individual historical “hero”. Ralph Fiennes’ memorable version, meanwhile, revealed a general with serious maternal problems. Time will decide which Coriolanus we get: It’s a very effective mirror. And with David Oyelowo in the lead role? Yes, please.
