And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again by Ilan Stavans

Together they comprise a profound global portrait of the defining moment of our time, and send a clarion call for solidarity across borders. In Chile, protesters who prevailed against tear gas and rubber bullets are now halted by a virus. In that spirit, the stories, essays, and poems in this collection - from beloved authors including Jhumpa Lahiri, Mario Vargas Llosa, Eavan Boland, Daniel Alarcón, Jon Lee Anderson, Claire Messud, Ariel Dorfman, and many more - detail the harrowing experiences of life in the pandemic, while pointing toward a less isolated future. In Paris, a writer struggles to protect his young son from fear. In Queens, after 13-hour shifts in the ER, a doctor dons running shoes and makes the long jog home.Īnd We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again takes its title from the last line of Dante's Inferno, when the poet and his guide emerge from hell to once again behold the beauty of the heavens. And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again: Writers From Around the World on the COVID-19 Pandemic (Restless Books, August 2020), edited by Ilan Stavans, offers a global portrait of the disparate and shared experiences of life amid a pandemic. A native of Mexico City, he lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. An award-winning writer and public television host, his books include Growing Up Latino and Spanglish. In Chile, protesters who prevailed against tear gas and rubber bullets are now halted by a virus. Ilan Stavans is the Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College.

In Paris, a writer struggles to protect his young son from fear. In Mauritius, a journalist contends with denialism and mourns the last days of summer, lost to the lockdown.

As our world is transformed by the coronavirus pandemic, writers offer a powerful antidote to the fearful confines of isolation: a window onto lives and corners of the world beyond our own.

And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again by Ilan Stavans