Read Of The Week (Sept 6 to Sept 12)

And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again, all set to be out later this month, promises to be a rich, eye-opening and uplifting anthology wherein dozens of esteemed writers, poets, artists and translators from more than 30 countries send literary dispatches from life during the pandemic. In that spirit, the stories, essays, poems and artwork in this collection — from beloved authors, including Jhumpa Lahiri, Shahnaz Patel, Mario Vargas Llosa, Eavan Boland, Daniel Alarcón, Jon Lee Anderson, Rivka Galchen, Claire Messud and many more — detail the harrowing experiences of life in the pandemic, while pointing towards a less isolated future. Together they comprise a profound global portrait of the defining moment of our time and send a clarion call for solidarity across borders.

The book borrows its title from the last line of Dante's Inferno, when the poet and his guide emerge from hell to once again behold the beauty of the heavens.