At the beginning of May, Straw Dog Writers Guild started accepting submissions for their ‘Pandemic Poetry & Prose: Writers Respond to Corona’ project. The goal of this endeavor is to ‘solicit and feature work by writers that speaks to some aspect of life during these unique times. By publishing online, we also hope to reaffirm the strength of our writing community, and to reach new voices.’
By May 8th, over 40 writers had sent in their work. The blog is now up featuring reflections on the sad, the overwhelming, the irreverent and hopeful moments of the COVID-19 crisis. You can take a look here.
In a statement mailed out to members, Straw Dog Writers Guild said Lesléa Newman, former Northampton poet laureate and founding Straw Dog member, came up with the idea after a poem she wrote about the pandemic appeared in New Verse News, an on-line journal that publishes poetry responding to current events. “Lesléa suggested that this project would give us a chance to share our responses to the pandemic with our own community.”