In conversation with Cath Barton, a contributor to 'Aftermath'

 

 image by Toril Brancher

 

Tell me about your story  in  Aftermath - but don't give any spoilers!  

My story in Aftermath is called The Protecting Shadow of the Ancestors. It's about confinement and hope, and what we take with us into an uncertain future. 

What inspired you to write this?

 It was inspired by coming across something about the spinning of silkworms, which led me to ponder transformation of different kinds.

 

 

Why did you think it important to contribute  to this collection?

I wanted to offer a contribution to this anthology because to me writing is a way we can cope with uncertainty, and the pandemic has presented us with unprecedented uncertainty, which no-one has been spared. Sharing our responses to it can, I feel, help us all get through this extraordinary time.

 

 How have you coped with the pandemic?

 I didn't cope well with the pandemic in the first months of lockdown. I was consumed by fear, unable to write, unable even to read. But, gradually, I found words again, ebbing and flowing, and now I find myself working on several writing projects with renewed energy.

Can you tell us about your other publications?

I have two published novellas - The Plankton Collector, New Welsh Review (2018) and In the Sweep of the Bay, Louise Walters Books (2020). There is a list of my shorter publications on my website - https://cathbarton.com.

 

 

A continuing response by writers to the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 and during the ongoing aftershocks in 2021, this collection is of work by writers we have published before and whom we trust, and their trusted colleagues. When disasters strike writers respond and react in words. They share with us their hopes and fears. They describe and rationalise.