Two years after the first UK lockdown, writers Shamini Sriskandarajah and Elodie Barnes reflect on how the restrictions (and opportunities) of Covid-19 have altered and shaped their creative practices.
A young woman slowly unravels during lockdown when compulsively chronicling her own body’s deterioration in Ramya Jegatheesan’s stunning short story, ‘Emanance’.
In this moving and powerful piece, Author Ayo Deforge discusses bodily agency, freedom of choice and consent, and the French state’s unrelenting control over citizens’ bodies during the pandemic.
Naima Rashid reflects on the pleasure and importance of the café space to her writing practise – a room of one’s own away from the demands of home and hearth.
In her audio poem, ‘A Friendship Lost’, Lolly Spindler recalls the abrupt end to an important relationship and the feelings of shock, loss and loneliness that ensued.
In her poem, actor and poet Anna McKelvie cleverly employs the metaphor of a boat at sea to express the difficulties, uncertainty and camaraderie experienced during the pandemic. Here, friendship triumphs over troubled waters.
In this poetic record of responses to her close friend and collaborator, Polly Constance captures the broken forms of contact and socially distanced care many of us have encountered during lockdown.
In this personal essay, Suzannah Ball meditates on what death means for those left behind, the experience of intergenerational grief and the effect of small but continuous losses on our lives.
In this compelling personal essay, Shamini Sriskandarajah recounts a year of trying to connect with friends over text, email, phone and post; of having to explain racism to one white friend and denounce violent sexism to another.
In this heartfelt personal essay, artist Janyce Denise Glasper recalls the years of solid friendship she’s shared and enjoyed with writer Asia Aneka Anderson, the Angela Davis to her Toni Morrison.
For Dorothy Reddin, lockdown has shown that life is too short and precious to surround yourself with toxic friendships. Here she talks about her time at university and how she came to reevaluate her circle of friends.
