Imagine being a literary researcher who, out of the blue, gets to work on a hitherto unseen manuscript by the very author you’ve specialised in. John Goodby got this dream deal after his then employer, Swansea University, bought a ‘lost notebook’ full of Dylan Thomas’s poems in 2014 at a Sotheby’s auction. Since then, he and a colleague have been painstakingly analysing the notebook which contains 16 poems in Thomas’s handwriting, compiled during a key part of the poet’s early career. Goodby says it contains many clues as to how Thomas’s style developed.

And as winter pandemic restrictions ramp up, you may once again find your social media feeds clogged up with images of freshly baked banana bread. According to a psychologist, there is something very specific about this early lockdown trend that makes it especially likely to make a comeback in the weeks ahead.

You may need the treat. According to researchers it’s possible that COVID-19, and the massive disruptions the virus is bringing to our lives, could be around for a long while yet.

Jonathan Este

Associate Editor, Arts + Culture Editor

New insights: Dylan Thomas’s fifth notebook shows how the poet’s creative process developed. Photo by John Gay © National Portrait Gallery, London

Dylan Thomas: ‘lost’ fifth notebook reveals how great Welsh poet changed his style

John Goodby, Sheffield Hallam University

No new poems, but plenty of insights into the development of Thomas's style.

Nata Bene/Shutterstock

You’re not done with banana bread - a psychologist reveals all

Stephanie Baines, Bangor University

Banana bread had all the psychological ingredients for lockdown success.

The Grand Hotel Taipei in Taiwan lights up rooms to mark five days with no new COVID-19 cases. Ricky kuo/Shutterstock

Is reaching zero COVID-19 possible?

Kingston Mills, Trinity College Dublin

With a vaccine, yes, elimination is possible. But we need to be realistic about how long this might take.

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