Trinity graduate Sally Rooney’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends, will be adapted into a 12-part TV series by the BBC.
The Trinity graduate, whose second novel Normal People is currently being made into a series, will see Conversations with Friends turned into a show with many of the same personnel working on it.
Conversation with Friends follows the story of two young Trinity students who become friends with a wealthy older couple living in Dublin.
Last year, it was announced that BBC had produced a television adaptation of Normal People, which is set to premiere in April. The studio, which shares streaming with Hulu, is already expecting the series to be a hit.
Director Lenny Abrahamson and screenwriter Alice Birtch will carry on their work with Conversation with Friends, with Rooney herself to remain involved for the second series.
“We will commission work from Sally Rooney for as long as she’s writing, because she’s got such an exciting voice and is able to write about young people lives in a direct and authentic way”, said the BBC drama controller, Piers Wenger in a statement to the Guardian.
Weiner also explained the decision to adapt the books to screen in reverse order: ““Conversations with Friends was in development elsewhere. Sally had seen how well Normal People had played out as 12 half-hours because it allowed you to get inside the minds and lives of the character. Normal People is a different piece with a different tone and a different set of characters.”
Rooney said that she has tried to “find fresh and interesting ways of dramatising the novel’s dynamics”.
In 2019, Rooney, a Trinity graduate of English, won the Costa Book award for Normal People, as well as the 2018 Waterstones Book Award.
Conversations with Friends was nominated for the 2018 Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize, as well as the 2018 Folio Prize. Rooney has been previously described as the “Salinger of the Snapchat generation”.
Normal People which traces the relationship between two young lovers in Trinity, stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal. It is set to be aired on BBC in April. Filming for the series took place on Campus last August.
