What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to highlight the variety of narratives surrounding the COVID pandemic across different genres.

June 12, 2026

Publishing In The Time Of: We're Still Writing the Book of the Pandemic

Key Points

The aim is to highlight the variety of narratives surrounding the COVID pandemic across different genres.
Compiled a reading list of literature produced during and after the pandemic.
Focused on narratives from philosophy, memoir, fiction, and policy analysis.
Examined Anglo-American texts while acknowledging broader global contributions.
Demonstrated that COVID has inspired a multitude of narratives rather than a single story.
Highlighted the diversity in forms and political interpretations of pandemic literature.
Identified unexplored themes and directions for future literary exploration.

Abstract

Abstract: Since 2020, writers across genres—including philosophy, memoir, fiction, children's literature, and policy analysis—have been documenting the pandemic in real time and in retrospect. This reading list aims to show that COVID has generated not a single narrative but a proliferating archive of forms, affects, and political understandings. Despite its focus on Anglo-American texts, the list aims to register the breadth of what has already been published about COVID and suggest some directions that remain unexplored.

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Publishing In The Time Of: We're Still Writing the Book of the Pandemic

Key Points

Abstract

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