Hi there, my name is Celine and I am a mother, foster carer, business owner and Pilates teacher. I live in Eastbourne, a seaside town on the South Coast of England but was born in France to an American mother and French father. I love writing and have done so since I learnt to write as a small child! During my teens I was an avid reader and wrote copious diary entries and poems recounting the struggles of adolescence. Writing is not only a creative process but can also be a therapeutic release and now is the perfect storm in which to write. This is perhaps how I came up with the idea for Covid Narratives!
Covid Narratives was set up from my kitchen table on Easter Sunday, 12th April 2020. In the midst of a family Easter Egg Hunt around our home, I chose the domain name, set up a website and Facebook page and got the ball rolling.
From the early days of the global health crisis which began in the latter part of 2019, I was acutely aware that we were about to enter one of the most unprecedented, extraordinary, life changing and frightening periods in our lifetimes. In just a few months, we have found ourselves in a world where millions of people are confined to their homes under lockdown rules and terms like 'social isolation', 'social distancing' and 'life in quarantine' are now considered to be perfectly normal.
Hugs are out - social distancing is in!
Life as we know it has been completely turned upside down to the point where our previous lives are almost unrecognizable. In just a short space of time, businesses, schools, universities, restaurants, theatres and shops have closed, workers have been laid off, air travel has been suspended and international borders have closed, major sporting, music and entertainment events have been cancelled, families have been forced to separate themselves from loved ones, delivery drivers and shopkeepers have become key workers, world markets have tumbled, millions have found themselves jobless and at the time of writing, over 135,000 deaths and just over 2 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide.
We are in the midst of a global health outbreak that has never, in the history of the world, taken such precedence over the world and it is vital that we collect stories of this unique time.
Everybody has a story to tell - why not tell yours?
Covid Narratives is a writing project that aims to provide a live narrative of life in the time of covid-19. We aim to collect stories and poems from all around the world - stories of love, hope and survival - during the global health pandemic. Our goal is to document our collective experiences in written form.
This is an opportunity for you to tell your story in your own words. We want to hear from people from all walks of life - frontline workers, parents, teachers, refugees, business owners, creatives, delivery drivers, caregivers, children and teenagers! How has the world health crisis affected you? Has your experience been positive, scary, illuminating, stressful? Have you learnt anything about yourself from this time? Imagine yourself in 10 or 20 years time. What will you remember the most?
Want to submit your story?
If you would like to submit a story or poem, please send it to hello@covidnarratives.com
- Stories should be no more than 3,000 words and must be your own original work.
- Please include your full name, email address, story title and town/country you live in together with your document.
- All stories and poems will be considered for publication on the website and in the book. Please note that that we cannot guarantee that your story will be published in the book.
- The goal is to publish a collection of your stories and poems into a book once the worst of this is over.
- Any proceeds raised from book sales will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the international humanitarian aid organisation.
- Please invite friends, family and colleagues to contribute if they wish. We seek stories from around the world.