An Online Panel on Writing in the Time of COVID-19: Race, Dystopia, and the Humanities in/of Crisis

What can writers and the humanities do to battle COVID-19, a virus that stops at no borders and knows not races? More importantly, what is the meaning of writing in the time of COVID-19 when the leaders are in the blue, cities locked down, and sympathy thrown out of the window as we regard the pain of others on TV and social media feeds? What should writers write in this time of global paranoia, xenophobia, and shameless self-interest? How will the humanities help us reach a better understanding of the humanity as we know and witness it–for its generality and despicability, for its similarity and diversity, for its optimism and pessimism, for tis desire to live and wish to die? If writing is also about “righting” the wrongs, errors, and failings of our civilization, where should we start looking at in the dawn of our dystopia, and how do we resurrect from the ruins of our crisis?