I’m excited to be included in this upcoming reading of talented local authors who published books in 2020-2021, in the midst of the pandemic. While I can’t speak for anyone else, the experience of preparing my chapbook “Awakening” for publication just as COVID-19 made its unwelcome début in western Massachusetts was a surprising mixed blessing. Concentrating my energy and focus on such a personal, engaging and long-desired project helped me tamp down my anxiety and dread related to the reality unfolding before my eyes. Complicating my angst was the daily disgust and horror of witnessing the overarching cataclysm created and perpetuated daily by our then-president.
The celebratory event on April 28th puts an exclamation point on the gift of creative energy even (or especially?) in the most desperate moments of our lives.
Hope you’ll join me on April 28th from 6:30-8:00.
Stephanie Shafran 