Today’s episode features a COVID-19 pandemic collaboration between the Matheson History Museum in Gainesville and Writers Alliance of Gainesville. The partnership began in mid-2020 and Gainesville and Alachua County residents were encouraged to submit personal accounts of their COVID-19 experiences including essays, poetry, and fiction and much more. The submissions were compiled by a four-person editorial team into a 200-page book, Local Lives in a Global Pandemic: Stories from North Central Florida. The book will be published in December 2020 and grants from the City of Gainesville and local businesses contributed financially to the effort.
Ronnie Lovelor from the Matheson History Museum and Mallory O’Conner from the Writers Alliance of Gainesville share information on the collaboration and the book that contains stories from first responders, students, professional, academics, poets and city officials.
Matheson History Museum: https://mathesonmuseum.org/
Writers Alliance of Gainesville: https://writersalliance.org/
From left to right, Pat Caren of Writers Alliance of Gainesville (WAG), Mallory O'Connor of WAG, Ronnie Lovler of the Matheson History Museum and WAG and Charles R. Cobb of Matheson History Museum.