COVID-19 has been an eye opener in more ways than one. A lot of bad things have come from it and continue to almost two years later. But the lockdowns and stay-at-home mandates have been good for one thing: giving the YEGWrites collective the material and time to put together our first anthology.

This collection is small but mighty. Featuring nine works written in March 2020 or later, the progress of this anthology from cover to cover almost eerily follows the evolution of the pandemic. On the surface, these works are about earthquakes, medication, correctional officers, illness, grandparents, inheritance, first relationships, close relationships, and talking caterpillars. But dig a little deeper and you can find some very relevant, urgent themes.

None of these works talk about COVID-19, yet at the same time they are all about COVID-19. Nine different narratives, nine different voices, nine different topics, but the same themes appearing throughout. The writing included here is a coping method of the authors as much as the reading of them may be a coping method for readers. All of us alike are simply trying to make sense of things as the pandemic drags on.

As scary as things have been, a little local writing collective was able to pursue their dreams and publish a little local anthology. The creation of A COVID Year has been a way for fourteen local creatives to make sense of things, and perhaps the finished collection can be a way for readers to do the same.

Written, edited, illustrated, designed, organized, published, and printed in the Edmonton metropolitan area by local creatives.

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