Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

by Linda M. Morra (Editor), Marianne Ackerman (Editor)

Overview

The Black Death epidemic spawned Boccaccio's Decameron; the bubonic plague brought us A Journal of the Plague Year. Many other great literary works have centered around storytelling at the time of a pandemic. Of people quarantined in their homes in 1722, Daniel Defoe wrote: "It was generally in such houses that we heard the most dismal shrieks and outcries of the poor people, terrified and even frighted to death by the sight of the condition of their dearest relations, and by the terror of being imprisoned as they were."

In March of 2020, a new virus in the shape of a crown forced Montrealers and people worldwide to be locked in their homes in fear of contagion. Social distancing, self-isolation, and quarantine became the new buzzwords dominating everyday vocabulary.

In April, once this new reality set in, the Quebec Writers' Federation asked its members, "What’s the story of your day?” It initiated a project, Chronicling the Days, inviting writers to detail a typical day in their life. The aim was to provide writers with a forum to put their creative thoughts to paper to try to make sense of the surreal situation and find some connection with other writers. “Every story valid,” the guidelines stated. One hundred writers responded to the challenge.

True to its slogan of “No Borders, No Limits,” Guernica Editions is collaborating with the Quebec Writers’ Federation to publish these essays in an anthology in the spring of 2021. These 100 essays are interspersed by six longer ones, also on the topic of the pandemic, but written for the QWF Writes series. Most submissions are by professional authors, members of the QWF; for some, however, this anthology represents their first time in print.

Chronicling the Days—Dispatches from a Pandemic provides an intimate panorama of the early days and experiences of the coronavirus. Constituting a rich mosaic of different styles, forms, and voices, this anthology provides a moving account of the everyday life of Quebec writers in isolation, digging deeply into their souls and reaching out to others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771836579
Publisher:	Guernica Editions, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Series:	Essential Anthologies Series , #15
Pages:	100
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Linda M. Morra is a Full Professor (Bishop's University) and a former Craig Dobbin Chair (2016-2017). Her book, Unarrested Archives, was a finalist for the Gabrielle Roy Prize in 2015. She prepared an edition of Jane Rule's memoir, Taking My Life, shortlisted for the international LAMBDA prize in 2012.

A long-time Montrealer, Marianne Ackerman was born in Belleville, Ontario. She has an MA in drama from the University of Toronto and studied French at the Sorbonne. Her three published novels include the best-seller Jump. A frequently produced playwright, her comedy Triplex Nervosa, the first of the Triplex Nervosa Trilogy, premiered at the Centaur Theatre in 2015.

Table of Contents

Prelude Susan Doherty 11

The Days

Ariela Freedman 19

Geoffrey Edwards 21

Gina Roitman 23

Romy Shiller 25

Lisanne Gamelin 27

Jim Upton 29

Linda M. Morra 31

Jim Olwell 33

Angela Leuck 35

Nora Loreto 38

April Ford 40

Byron Rempel 42

Muriel Gold Poole 44

Lea Beddia 46

Jennifer DeLeskie 48

Surehka Surendran 50

Louise Carson 53

Mark Foss 55

Marianne Ackerman 57

Ami Sands Brodoff 59

Michelle Ariss 61

Caroline Vu 63

Joe Bongiorno 65

Constantin Polychronakos 67

Ian Thomas Shaw 69

Babsie Chalifoux-Reis 71

Mary Thaler 73

Bernice Angeline Sorge 75

Jill Goldberg 77

Joanne Gormley 79

Carolynn Rafman 81

Sophie Pagé 83

Ilona Martonfi 85

Charles Gedeon 87

Rana Bose 88

Endre Parkas 90

Nisha Coleman 95

Brenda Hartwell 99

Didi Gorman 101

Anita Anand 103

Elizabeth Glenn-Copelandy 105

Josh Quirion 107

Karin Turkington 108

Morgan Cohen 110

Rachel Berger 112

Kate Henderson 114

Sivan Slapak 116

Aimee Louw 118

Dan David 120

Audrey Meubus 122

Carolyn Marie Souaid 124

Maureen Marovitch 126

Carol Katz 128

Ann Lloyd 130

Barbara Kelly 131

Jeffrey Mackie-Deernsted 133

Jocelyne Dubois 134

Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt 135

Amie Watson 137

Tiffany Crotogino 139

Denise Duguay 141

Jonathan Kaplansky 143

Robert Edison Sandiford 145

Connie Guzzo-McParland 147

Ariela Freedman 149

Deborah Ostravksy 152

Curtis McRae 154

Kenneth Radu 156

Wendy Reichental 158

Su J Sokol 160

Brian Campbell 162

Gregory McKenzie 164

Roksana Bahramitash 166

Stephanie Moll 168

Harry Rajchgot 170

Karen Isabel Ocaña 172

Noah Allison 174

Timothy Niedermann 176

Greg Santos 178

Clare Chodos-Irvine 181

Carole Thorpe 183

Andi Stewart 186

Marie Tully 188

Rita Pomade 190

Alexandre Marceau 192

Lis McLoughlin 194

Emily Brown 195

Linda Thompson 197

Miriam S. Pal 199

Sylwia Bielec 201

Elisa Robin Wells 203

Anabelle Zaluski 205

Joel Yanofsky 207

Karen Zey 210

Alison Piper 212

Louis Hintom 214

Anne Lewis 216

Doru Lupeanu 218

Francesca Ai LoDico 219

Rebecca Morris 221

Jill Leslie Sapphire-Goldberg 223

Shelley Tepperman 225

Danielle Wong 227

Carolyne Van Der Meer 229

Marian Rebeiro 231

Finale Rachel McCrum 233

Afterword Crystal Chan 237

Contributors 243