Writing the Virus, the first anthology to explore the human effects of the pandemic, parses the virus as it hits a society polarized by racism, privilege and politics. The book tracks the virus’s progression from epidemiological threat to international crisis and sketches the evolution of Corona’s rapidly changing meaning over the past half year. Writing the Virus includes a haunting story that explores the psychological dimensions of an anti-Asian hate crime with a curiously absent culprit; hallucinatory prose that gropes its way through a labyrinth of internalized fear; a historical essay on the post-Cold War militarization of the police and the racist roots of police brutality; poems that probe racism’s dark and violent undercurrent in American society; and an essay that appeals to the power of love in the Black community as our strongest and most promising force for change. Writing the Virus, edited by Andrea Scrima and David Winner, was published November 1 by Outpost 19 Books.
Readers of the evening: Christian von der Goltz (“Halted Time”); Scott Martingell (“Poems in Times of Corona”); Mui Poopoksakul (“The Blue Vial”); Andrea Scrima (“Corona Report”); Mark Kanak reads from his English translation of Alexander Graeff’s “Perpetuum Mobile.”
Moderator: Amanda DeMarco
Mui Poopoksakul is a lawyer-turned-translator with a special interest in contemporary Thai literature. Her translations include three story collections: The Sad Part Was and Moving Parts, both by Prabda Yoon, and Arid Dreams by Duanwad Pimwana. She is also the translator of the novel Bright by Pimwana. Mui lives in Berlin, Germany.
Statorec editor in chief Andrea Scrima studied fine arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany, where she lives and works. A German translation of her first book, A Lesser Day (Spuyten Duyvil), was published by Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz, in 2018 under the title Wie viele Tage. Scrima writes literary criticism for The Brooklyn Rail, Music & Literature, Schreibheft, Manuskripte, and other publications. She publishes a monthly column for 3Quarks Daily and is currently working on her third book. Her second book, a novel titled Like Lips, Like Skins, is due to come out in a German edition in the fall of 2021.
Christian von der Goltz is a jazz pianist and composer based in Berlin. Recent recordings include the CD of his sextet cvdg project (Rudi Mahall, Henrik Walsdorff, Martin Klingeberg, Christian von der Goltz, Jan Roder, and Kay Luebke), titled paradise. He has been working on a novel for the past several years.
MC Jabber (Scott Martingell), born in South London in 1966, performs as a singer and poet. He won the first UK National Poetry Slam in 1995, the first Glastonbury Festival Poetry Slam in 1996, and the International SLAM! Revue in 2006. From 1999 to 2008 he was a vocalist in the Danish band Blue Foundation, with tracks featured on “Miami Vice” and the Billboard #1, Grammy-nominated soundtrack to “Twilight.” He lives in Berlin.
Mark Kanak, author, translator, noisemaker, lives in Berlin. Prose/poems (German and English) in journals, etc. Numerous translations into English (Serner, Brinkmann, Burger, Gangl, Crauss, Neuner, Reyer, etc.). Most recently published: Walter Serner's Last Loosening: A Handbook for the Con Artist and Those Who Aspire to Become One (2020, Twisted Spoon) and Tractatus illogico-insanus (2019, Ritter). 2022 is the expected post-Corona premiere of Tractatus, a holodrama featuring Blixa Bargeld in the lead role.
Alexander Graeff, Ph.D., is a writer and philosopher who lives in Berlin and Greifswald. He also works as an editor, curator, and lecturer and has published numerous philosophical texts and pieces of fiction. His prose and poetry are occasionally surreal, and he frequently mixes literary forms. Graeff is the head of the literature program at the Brotfabrik Berlin. In the Queer Media Society, he is committed to increasing the visibility of queer biographies and stories in the literary establishment.
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