Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic

 

Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic

STOP THE WORLD: Snapshots from a Pandemic

 

I had some exciting post this week, a real paper book, Fed-Ex’d over from the US. Book post is always exciting, but this book is a little bit more special for me; my name (along with forty other names) is on the front cover.

 

Way back during life in lockdown, American author and editor, Lise McClendon, asked me if I would be interested in submitting something for an anthology she was putting together, called Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic. I was honoured to be asked and delighted to be part of something that has recorded such an unexpected moment for social history.

 

Lise McClendon felt it was important to bring together writers from all over the world (she has contributions from forty writers in ten countries) to ensure what we were thinking and feeling during lockdown is preserved, even if it is a period in time we may all wish to forget. 

 

You'll find me on page 36

My contribution is factual, about our way of adapting and coping to life in lockdown and alongside other personal essays, there are also short fiction and poetry pieces, all based on experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

 

With its bite-sized reads for whenever you have a moment, it is an easy book to dip in and out of and I found it interesting to see how many different emotions and reactions there were to something that we all experienced, wherever in the world we were. My copy proudly sits on the coffee table in the lounge, a permanent reminder of an extraordinary year.

A book with my name on

ISBN: 9780578717753

Thalia Press pub date:  August 4, 2020

Contact: Lise McClendon, 406-698-5268

Email: StopTheWorldAnthology@gmail.com

 

July 1, 2020

 

Thalia Press is pleased to announce the release of a topical, up-to-the-minute anthology of personal essays, short fiction, and poetry based on experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in this unique year. Forty writers from around the world took time during this spring of lockdown, contagion, and uncertainty to explore and share their emotions and creative impulses for the record. 

 

STOP THE WORLD: Snapshots from a Pandemic, a brainchild of editor Lise McClendon, was shepherded by her with her co-editors— Taffy Cannon, Kate Flora, and Gary Phillips— to bear witness to the events taking place all around us, and especially within us, as we grapple with disease, isolation, death, and, yes, a healthy dose of chaos. 

 

Some writers chose to mine their own psyches and experiences, whether the challenges of life in lockdown or their struggles with productivity and focus. Others felt called to dystopian and wry, dark fiction.  Across the globe the reactions portray a similar anger, pain, and struggle from writers from the US, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Northern Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Romania.