What’s next in pop culture?

Arts & Culture

What’s next in pop culture?

The new year may have just begun, but 2026 is already set to be a busy year in pop culture.

From music to movies to books, UVA Today talked to University of Virginia experts in pop culture to see what upcoming releases they are looking forward to the most. Here’s the list.

Books

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Kelly Graham, director of development at UVA Library

Especially in the vein of pop culture, I am very excited for the 10th and, allegedly, final book in Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series: “A Blessing for a Warrior Going Out.” There still isn’t an official release date, but it is anticipated for 2026. Diana Gabaldon has spent a lot of time in Virginia’s historic triangle to do research for this novel, as its setting will largely center around the Battle of Yorktown and the end of the Revolutionary War.

Brenda Gunn, director of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections

I’m looking forward to Emily Sneff’s “When the Declaration of Independence Was News” (Oxford University Press, March 2026). It’s sort of obvious why this would be of interest to me, and to many of the folks in Special Collections, because of the Small Declaration of Independence Collection.

We’re fortunate that we work alongside this broadside in the Declaration of Independence Gallery on the first floor of Harrison Small. Speaking for myself only, I am eager to learn how the declaration was received and experienced by people in the United States and in Europe. The book goes beyond the physical item that we have – the broadside – and explores the news.

I think it will provide a deeper level of understanding of our collection and help us to realize that this broadside was one of many ways of distributing the information about independence.

Nicholas Cummins, research librarian for economics and commerce

“A Historian in Gaza” by Jean-Pierre Filiu, the English translation thereof, available March 2, 2026. History is not just what happened before us; it is unfolding around us now, even as we speak. Written from the perspective of a French historian and long-term witness and visitor to the region, Filiu’s “A Historian in Gaza” … is top of my reading list for 2026.

Arlyn Newcomb, UVA Library video reserves coordinator

I am looking forward to “Platform Decay,” No. 8 in the “Murderbot Diaries” series by Martha Wells, which comes out in May of 2026. I have really enjoyed the main character’s development over the previous books in the series, as well as the way the various imagined societies shed light on our own.

The series offers a mixed vision of the way artificial intelligence could be integrated into life and how that could play out. I can’t wait to see what comes next for our SecUnit as they continue to grow into independence.

Music

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Nathan Moore, general manager of WTJU

“My Days of 58” by Bill Callahan. Years ago, I saw Bill Callahan performing as the band Smog in a church basement in Wisconsin, back when his “hit” was a tune called “Dress Sexy At My Funeral.” It’s a solid example of Callahan’s decades-long catalog of lo-fi, languid, indie folk songs, all of which prominently feature his unique baritone voice and thoughtful lyrics.

The tracks I’ve heard from “My Days of 58” continue to mine that vein. “The Man I’m Supposed To Be” resonates hard for anyone who has struggled with addiction or mental health, or who has loved someone who has. “I saw that demon inside me / Trying to claim my body as its own / Invader, enslaver, little headstone / Tell me, has it grown?”

“Hope and Fury” by Joe Jackson. Around the time I was born, Joe Jackson had huge pop hits (“Steppin’ Out,” “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”), so the guy can now do whatever musical project he wants. And I like seeing where he’s taken himself.

His upcoming album, “Hope and Fury,” kicks off with a searing rock tune that paints a gloomy picture of fictional British city Burning-by-Sea. Jackson says that it ended up being a love/hate song to England: “There’s nowhere that makes me more angry or sad than England, and nowhere I love more.”

I’ve had similar feelings about the place I grew up. I appreciate that Jackson can capture those contradictions in a song with a great beat.

“Church of Kidane Mehret” by Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru. To hear Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru is to become a fan of her. Or at least that was my experience when I first encountered her music via the “Ethiopiques” compilation albums.

Born in an upper-class family in Addis Ababa in 1923, Emahoy was immersed in Ethiopian music, then trained in classical piano, then dug into early jazz. At age 20, she became a nun and ended up developing a truly distinctive musical voice. For many decades of her life, she played a rather spartan solo-piano style that blended precise classical notes with a hint of jazz improv, all built around pentatonic scales of Ethiopian folk and choral traditions. How does that work? I don’t know, but it’s moving and wonderful.

In recent years, a small label called Mississippi Records has released a few albums of Emahoy’s music. “Church of Kidane Mehret” sees her exploring Ethiopian Orthodox church music, using recordings she made of herself in churches throughout Jerusalem. And not just piano, she plays harmonium on “Spring Ode” and pipe organ on “Prayer for Peace.”

While this album actually came out in 2025, I’m looking forward to listening over and over in 2026.

Movies

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Ilya Tovbis, artistic director of the Virginia Film Festival

“Death of a Salesman,” directed by Chinonye Chukwu. Aging salesman Willy Loman struggles to accept reality and his failure to achieve the American Dream. With her prior films “Till” and “Clemency,” Chukwu showed an unerring ability to dramatize some of the rawest and most critical aspects of American history. Here, alongside co-writer Tony Kushner, she adapts Arthur Miller’s iconic play, further delving into the thorny proposition of the American Dream.

“Fjord,” directed by Cristian Mungiu. A Romanian family living in Norway becomes the center of small-town scrutiny. A leading light of the Romanian New Wave, Mungiu is responsible for the 21st-century classic “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” a gripping account of flawed humanity and a society whose rules force women into impossible choices.

Here, he teams with Renate Reinsve (“Worst Person in the World”) and Sebastian Stan (“A Different Man”) for what ought to be an equally trenchant examination of communities taking the law into their own hands.

“I Love Boosters,” directed by Boots Riley. A group of shoplifters takes aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. Riley’s 2018 debut, “Sorry to Bother You,” was a landmark American comedy that satirized corporate culture with a cutting glee that announced the arrival of a filmmaker extraordinaire.

Finally returning to the big screen after a detour to the episodic (“I’m A Virgo”), the rapper-activist-filmmaker is armed with a stellar cast and seems set to take us on another heady and wild ride.