When life gives you lockdown, make quarantinis!

We are COVID veterans together. We have felt the suspension of plans and certainties, apprehension for our own health and for those dear to us, separation from family and friends. These poems came about in the empty space, the clear table that COVID left in its wake. The palate cleansed allowed thoughts to percolate and mature; sights ‘seen’ frequently over many years were seen as if for the first time, the mystery and majesty of sunlight both in summer and winter, early and late. When we have everything, we can never have enough but when we have less we can appreciate the gifts that surround us, the blessing of presence. Feeling separated, these were an attempt to connect with friends, family, myself. Inside you'll find musings and bemusings on life after death, life before death, depression, dogs, cats, the wonderful world of nature around us, the mysterious world within us, politics, palmistry, children. Speaking of nature, she never got the memo. She just carried on. As should we.

First-time author Sunny Dandridge takes readers deep undercover Into the heart of a small, seemingly peaceful New Jersey town. It all began after curfew on April 8th, 2020, when a series of drive-by shootings shook the neighborhood. Astonishingly, no lives were lost, and none of the residents were awakened. The next day, local newspapers warned of a silver Mercedes linked to the incident and pleaded with residents to report any information. As the shocking truth unfolded, it was revealed that Sunny knew the shooter, as well as the victim and the intended target, intimately. She found herself quick to judge and questioned her mental state. However, Sunny had her own dark history just six months prior. She was embroiled in an open case of trust-passing and "simple" assault, leading her to obtain a restraining order and gun license. As the harassment and threats continued, she prepared to purchase a weapon. Ready for the uninvited. The quarantine and its isolation forced Sunny to take a deeper look at herself and her past. Recognizing her own journey toward her breaking point. "Quarantine Made Me Do It: Amidst the Pandemic" is a gripping true story that peels back the layers of refined public appearances to reveal the chaos that lurks behind closed doors. Sunny journals the pivotal ones that altered her reality and led her to a profound self-discovery. It poses questions: What drives someone to their breaking point? And what does it look like from the inside? The reader is invited to delve into the mental degradation that isolation brought during the quarantine and to relive the head-scratching moments of our "new normal". From the backdrop of COVID-19 and the tragic events surrounding George Floyd to the tumultuous politics of Donald Trump and the race for a vaccine, from relationships and domestic violence to Mental Health awareness and police brutality, from the rise of the "new" white American terrorists and gun violence to the Black Lives Matter protests and the shocking events of the January 6th riots- 2020 left us indelible mark on our lives.

How does one record an extraordinary time? Confined to his Delhi apartment, Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee unravels the intimate paradoxes of life he encounters in the first weeks of a global pandemic. His stories about local fish sellers, gardeners, barbers and lovers merge with his concerns for the exodus of migrant labourers, the challenges faced by health workers, and a mother braving checkposts to bring her son home. Drawing inspiration from contemporary literature and cinema, The Town Slowly Empties is a unique window on a world desperate for love, care and hope. Manash is our Everyman, urging us to slow down and mend our broken ties with nature. Written with rare candour and elegance, this meditative book is a compelling account of the human condition that soars high above the empty streets.

2016 was officially the “year of gin” in the UK, with sales topping £1 billion! The brilliantly botanical spirit is much more than tonic’s sidekick, it’s sophisticatedly sippable, and adds depth and flavour to any drink.

Selections from the "Pandemic Files" published by The Yale Review, the preeminent journal of literature and ideas “If only our response to the pandemic on other fronts could have been as speedy and potent as this literary one.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review In beautifully written and powerfully thought prose, A World Out of Reach offers a crucial record of COVID-19 and the cataclysmic spring of 2020—a record for us and for posterity—in the arresting voices of poets, essayists, scholars, and health care workers. Ranging from matters of policy and social justice to ancient history and personal stories of living under lockdown, this vivid compilation from The Yale Review presents a first draft of one of the most tumultuous periods in recent history. Contributors: Katie Kitamura • Laura Kolbe • Nitin Ahuja • Rena Xu • Alicia Christoff • Miranda Featherstone • Maya C. Popa • Major Jackson • John Witt • Octávio Luiz Motta Ferraz • Joan Naviyuk Kane • Nell Freudenberger • Briallen Hopper • Brandon Shimoda • Yusef Komunyakaa • Laren McClung • Eric O’Keefe-Krebs • Sean Lynch • Millicent Marcus • Meghana Mysore • Rachel Jamison Webster • Emily Ziff Griffin • Rowan Ricardo Philips • Kathryn Lofton • Monica Ferrell • Russell Morse • Randi Hutter Epstein • Noreen Khawaja • Victoria Chang • Joyelle McSweeney • Khameer Kidia • Emily Greenwood • Elisa Gabbert • Emily Bernard • Hafizah Geter • Emily Gogolak • Roger Reeves

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is what the author Juhi Jaisinghani believes in. When everybody is talking about the uncertainties happening during the lockdown 2020, she tries to show you another side of it. A software engineer losing his job with no clue about his passion, a couple trying to revamp their almost broken marriage, a police officer on the verge of forgetting his old dream, a girl cheated on by the love of her life still looking out for love, a couple about to get married with everything planned, an orphan guy desiring solace, a girl waiting for her childhood sweetheart, a high-profile journalist considering love for granted, an airhostess in hope of the biggest opportunity of her life, a struggling actor almost always making the wrong choices and regretting about it—life indeed gave them lemons they would be able to make lemonade of, or they would give up against time.