For the literary-minded among us, a new year only means one thing: new book trends. With one month of 2025 already passed, I have been reflecting on what trends are on the rise. What can us bibliophiles expect to see on “Book-Tok,” as well as on the shelves of our favourite bookstores?
While 2024 was the year of fantasy-romance, self-help , nd the increasing popularity of audiobooks, I predict that 2025 will see a resurgence of the dystopian genre together with a rise in AI-created literature, each reflecting the turbulent social and political times we are living in.
With Trump’s 2016 presidential victory, the BBC reported a mass increase in people reading dystopian fiction. Following Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, young people are taking to social media in floods, quick to make links to the dystopian genre. On TikTok, videos are circulating proclaiming that “we need a Mockingjay” (a reference to the heroine in The Hunger Games). Keen-eyed bookworms are comparing the inauguration dress of Ivanka Trump to that of the wives in The Handmaid’s Tale. Clearly, people are looking for signs of literature within their own lives – and are finding it.
With increasing book bans in the US, along with a crackdown on reproductive rights, people are clinging to literature akin to The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale as a reflection of their own times. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a rise not only in popularity but in new publications within the Dystopian genre.
Another key concern amongst authors and publishers at the end of 2024 was the rise in AI and the risk this posed to the integrity of the publishing industry. While I doubt people will turn away from the work of their favourite authors in favour of AI-generated literature, we can expect an increasing crackdown on restrictions relating to the arts and AI this year, with perhaps the first AI-written novel hitting the shelves (or the internet).
The world of books seems increasingly threatened, with the risk posed by AI and increasing government-imposed book bans leaving book lovers wondering what the future will look like. I don’t think 2025 will be all doom and gloom in terms of book trends, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the 2024 fantasy-romance trend continues into this year. While literature has always acted as a force of political and social activism, people still long for an escape, which books have the power to provide.
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