The New York Times has launched a literary project titled, The Decameron Project, that aims to, more than anytime, measure the uncertain times we are in.
The project commissioned 29 renowned writers from around the world to write fictional short stories around the Covid-19 health crisis that we currently face.
In a statement on the aforementioned New York Times Magazine’s Decameron Project, the magazine listed the following:
AS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC SWEPT THE WORLD, WE ASKED 29 AUTHORS TO WRITE NEW SHORT STORIES INSPIRED BY THE MOMENT. WE WERE INSPIRED BY GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S “THE DECAMERON,” WRITTEN AS THE PLAGUE RAVAGED FLORENCE IN THE 14TH CENTURY.
The writers on the project include renowned names like, Margaret Atwood, Edwidge Danticat, Tommy Oranges, Charles You and many more contributors.
Uzodinma Iweala’s own short story contribution is titled, ‘Sleep’ and is a disturbing reminiscence of unbuckled desires orbiting a rigid time frame.
Read the other short stories here
Uzodinma Iweala is a Nigerian-American writer, a medical doctor and the chief executive of the Africa Center. He is the author of “Beasts of No Nation,” “Our Kind of People” and “Speak No Evil.” He lives in New York City.
