Cookery, self-improvement and newsy non-fiction books are predicted to rule the roost this year Like a lot of industries, English-language publishing in India is in the middle of a slow recovery following a drastically lean patch in the summer of 2020. December is typically a strong period for sales across sectors (thanks to Christmas and New Year gifting), and publishing is no different. Because of this, Indian publishers are looking forward to 2021 with a sense of cautious optimism. (Stay up to date on new book releases, reviews, and more with The Hindu On Books newsletter. Subscribe here.) In the second half of 2020 we saw a number of writers releasing books written during and about the lockdown; Zadie Smith and Slavoj Žižek, among them. There were also books by medical experts, breaking down the science behind COVID-19 to its basics. According to Udayan Mitra, Publisher (Literary) at HarperCollins India, this general trend will continue in 2021, and even expand in scope. Mitra says: “Many 2021 books were written over the pandemic-hit months of 2020. Since, contrary to some early estimates, it now appears that 2021 is going to be as COVID-impacted a year as its predecessor, the topicality of these books will be a main feature.”