At a distance of almost two years since the novel coronavirus first entered the public consciousness and drew media attention, it has become clear how women have been affected in distinct ways by the unfamiliar set of social, economic, and, in many cases, personal circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic (Guterres 2020). Though it is a simplification to suggest that women are a uniquely privileged group in this respect, it remains true that the instability of lockdowns and their aftermath, in the UK and elsewhere, has taken a specific toll on women's modes of experiencing and inhabiting the world. In an outwardfacing context, this has impinged upon women's self-perception as writers and artists and as employees in other sectors, including the Academy;in the personal sphere, it has touched upon the problem of being mother, partner, friend, and colleague in challenging circumstances. These new (or perhaps not so new, in some cases) experiences are becoming the focus of critical and reflective work in and beyond academic circles, as women seek not only to respond to their own experiences over the past year but to explore broader opportunities presented by the pandemic for thinking through our life as individuals and in community. In response to these emerging creative and critical conditions, at the end of Institute of Modern Languages Research held a workshop titled 'Covid and the (Bristol) and attended by academics, creators, artists, activists, and translators spread across the globe. Reflecting on their own practice and the practice of others, participants' contributions shifted between scholarship and stories, research and representation - literary or otherwise - to reveal a picture of how Covid-19 and its effects are being progressively reflected and/or refracted in
Conference report 'Covid and the Woman Writer', Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women's Writing, Institute of Modern Languages Research, 30 April 2021 (online)