Welcome

Welcome to the website of the research project Viral Literature: Latin America.

This project archives, studies, and brings together real-time literary responses to the Covid-19 crisis in Latin America. Led by Dr. Luis Medina Cordova at the University of Birmingham, the project examines how authors from the region responded to the pandemic through social media and other digital platforms. It posits that, while the virus spread, death tolls rose, and lockdowns gripped the region, a significant body of literature emerged in digital spaces, deeply engaging with the ongoing crisis.

This website serves as an online repository for the literary texts identified by the project. It showcases a diverse range of works in Spanish by Latin American authors, disseminated across platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, and others. These texts, created and/or shared online between February 2020 and March 2022, capture the height of the pandemic, a period during which Latin America became the region most affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

All works featured on this site are included with the permission of their authors. They provide powerful testimony and offer unique insights into the isolation, social distancing, xenophobia, violence, illness, and loss that defined the Covid-19 era in Latin America.

We invite you to explore this collection by clicking on the project’s Map and discover how Latin American authors responded creatively to an unprecedented global crisis. Whether you are a researcher, a student, an artist, or simply someone interested in the intersections of literature, culture, and history, we hope this repository inspires reflection and deepens your understanding of the Covid-19 pandemic's profound impact on the region.

*The illustration for this website's homepage was created by the Ecuadorian artist Melissa Mejía.