Tales from the Quarantine is a project born of both urgency and boredom—a creative riff on Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground. No one knew what was going on. In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when the threat of imminent death cast everything in stark relief, the existential questions of that classic text felt more relevant than ever.
This project traced a thread of connection and solidarity between New York City and the North Fork of Long Island, pairing old, rarely seen photographs with quiet, reflective sentiments delivered via the postal service — a gentle reminder of a world beyond our immediate confinement. We sent eight sets of 20 photographs—each drawn from unpublished photo projects—to eight poets, inviting them to write on the backs of the prints. Their responses, prompted by both the imagery and the surreal context of the time, created a layered dialogue of memory and emotion.
Now, on the fifth anniversary of the pandemic’s onset, we have assembled a seven-part anthology to capture those early days of incubation—a time when every moment was charged with meaning.
Tales from the Quarantine, Volumes 1-7 will be published in 2025.
Featuring Poets: Peter Treiber Jr., Emily Fernandez, Paige Catalano, TJ McGowan, Matt Daddona, Stella Keating, Alex Erey, Nadira Vlaun
