Forum

Bounds Green Book Writers (BGBW), a North-London-based writers’ circle, is seeking submissions for an anthology of creative writing inspired by the coronavirus experience. The anthology is entitled Lockdown Lit—Imagination in Isolation.

Submissions may be short stories, poems, short articles, editorials or essays. They do not have to be ‘about the coronavirus’ but can be any writing which is ‘inspired by the experience of the coronavirus pandemic’.

“Everyone in the world has experienced something extraordinary during this pandemic,” says BGBW founder member Susie Helme. “Some are struggling to surmount new hardships; some are re-examining their lives and shifting their priorities. So many are experiencing the grief of losing loved ones. We are all noticing the love and caring of others—friends, relatives and key workers—who are risking their own safety to keep us alive. One thing we all have in common is that these experiences have been happening in isolation. We have been locked up at home, and don’t really know what everyone else has been going through.”

The desire to break this silence is what prompted the launch of the anthology.

Member Rajes Bala says, ‘I spent 76 days isolated in a hotel in Sri Lanka with no familiar face. It was a painful experience, and I wanted to share that with other people.’

Member Elaine Graham-Leigh says, “Fiction is one of the ways in which we collectively make sense of the world. Trying to sum up the last few months in a short piece was challenging but worthwhile, and, hopefully, entertaining to read.”

Bounds Green Book Writers (BGBW) has been meeting monthly since January 2019, starting out around Susie’s living room table in Bounds Green in North London and now meeting online. The five-woman team wants to expand their remit to become a ‘publishing co-operative’. Lockdown Lit is their first publishing venture.

Lockdown Lit will be published online on www.boundsgreenbookwriters.com. Submissions should be under 2000 words, be as yet unpublished work, and should be emailed to boundsgreenbookwriters@outlook.com. Authors retain copywrite.

See “Write and be published” (see attached pdf) in Dignity magazine JanFeb 2020 issue for more about BGBW and other writing initiatives. For information on BGBW call Susie on 07958975496 or contact the group on www.boundsgreenbookwriters.com.