Online literary time capsule gets promising response as John Boyne and others submit
A new community website is asking local writers to submit written pieces that capture this particular moment in our living history.
Described as ‘Not a literary magazine for ordinary times, but a journal for an exceptional one. Writing the pandemic, together’, the site pendemic. ie has already received submissions of letters from locals here in Wexford such as Gorey’s Bernie Kirwan, as well as essays, poems, fiction and non-fiction from greats such as author John Boyne, who wrote a poem called ‘We’re All Doomed! A (silly) poem’.
Gorey woman Joy Redmond, who is part of the team of four behind the project, explained that the site is as much about community togetherness as it is about writing.
‘Myself, Liz Quirke, Niall McArdle and Ruth McKee are a group of writers that met at the John Hewitt International
Summer School in Armagh in July of last year, and together we created the site to publish new writing in response to Covid-19. Pendemic is a way for us all to share our experiences, it’s a tool and a refuge, so all voices will be included. We’re not showcasing literary talent but writing this pandemic out.
‘We’ve had thousands of visitors to the site already, and the only thing that we ask is that people don’t submit medical or scientific writing as we don’t have the skill set to verify it, and we won’t be editing any of the submissions through the online form.
‘We hope that the site will be helpful, and as it’s not just for established writers. We hope that it will become a community project that we can look back on’.
Joy hopes that the site will capture raw emotions of what people are feeling at this time of uncertainty.
‘We are trying to get the raw and the “right now”. What has struck me the most so far is how quickly we all adjusted to this curve ball. One man in Waterford sent us a letter he wrote to his children if he doesn’t make it.
‘We really wanted to document this crazy time, as a sort of social history project. I fear if we don’t get this written down, we’ll risk losing it and the experience will be missed as we all go into autopilot, and the experience wouldn’t be captured’.
So far contributions have included letters addressed to the virus itself, poems about distancing, as well as letters to younger generations.
Joy said that journalling like this can also be a tool to boost one’s mood, and taking time out to write can be therapeutic.
‘This is a stressful time, there are a lot of things to juggle but journalling is a fantastic thing to do daily, and just get out the pen and paper and throw everything on the page .
‘We are in an emergency, and people have to be a bit kinder to others and themselves. This is a resource for everyone’.
The site has proved popular so far, with multiple daily posts and visitors from every continent, being most popular in Ireland, the UL and New Zealand.
Submissions are open to published and unpublished writers during these challenging times. Find out more by visiting www.pendemic.ie.