Since September 2020, BFA Creative Writing students at OCAD University and MA Writing students at Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL), Bogota have engaged in weekly conversations to discuss their experiences of the pandemic, exploring the dichotomy of distance & interconnectedness in this time of global crisis. Ultimately, these conversations have led to the production of written and visual work that will be housed in a digital archive on the UNAL/OCADU website.

The Collective

Universidad Nacional de Colombia in collaboration with OCAD University, has formed an international collective of student writers to explore how we connect, create, and stand in solidarity with one another. The collective aims to help students write and create across geographies, languages, and cultures in response to our global and national crises and individual challenges during the pandemic.

This small but dedicated collective of graduate and undergraduate writing students is overseen by UNAL’s Director of the Masters in Creative Writing Program, Professor Carlos Satizabal, and OCAD U’s Chair of the BFA Creative Writing, Professor Catherine Black.

The Moment

This collaboration represents a very special opportunity for students at UNAL, Bogota and OCAD U to connect creatively in a moment when the world faces the crisis of the pandemic as well as the hope for emergence from crisis.

While students began by exploring personal, physical, psychological, social, and ecological impacts of the pandemic, the conversations quickly turned as Colombia faced enormous political and social unrest, culminating in the protests of spring 2021. Pivoting, members of the collective began to focus on what it means to stand in solidarity with another, to support, and to be an ally. The collective now aims to provide a platform for writers from both communities to share individual and collective experiences of the Pandemic, which for many Colombians has meant violence and upheaval in the streets of their towns and cities.

The Method

Since September 2020, members of the collective have engaged in weekly conversations overseen by UNAL’s Director of the Masters in Creative Writing Program, Professor Carlos Satizabal, and OCAD U’s Chair of the BFA Creative Writing, Professor Catherine Black.

In their meetings, students have shared discoveries, questions, musings, reflections, rants, speculations and observations, bridging distance, language, cultures and experiences. These conversations were chronicled through writing and visuals on the collective’s Miro brainstorm board.