A Dragon Named Covid by Kirin Lee

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we all went into lockdown at the same time — but did we all feel the same things? "Our Covid Stories" is a special playlist of original stories written by children ages five to twelve, all finalists in Dragonzilla’s Short Story Writing Challenge. The stories cross over many genres, some exploring pandemic life through fantasy and others with stark realism; full of words brimming with big emotions, revealing hope and resilience and often sprinkling life with a sense of humour. These stories give a glimpse into the emotions and experiences of 2020 and 2021 by brilliant young writers – creating an invaluable record for future generations as well as a treasure trove of entertaining stories written for children, by children! Don’t miss each year's winning stories: “The Big Fight” by Josse Franco; “A Familiar Prison” by David Ryan, and “Finger Lickin’ Freedom” and “The Great Depression” by Josh Hansraj.

In 2020 and 2021, the NGC Bocas Lit Fest held Dragonzilla's Short Story Writing Challenge to encourage children to express themselves through writing during a difficult time when they were apart from friends, family and schoolmates. Each year, over 100 children shared their 300-400 word story on the theme “My COVID experience in Trinidad and Tobago”, and these entries were narrowed down to twenty finalists in two age categories, ages 5 to 8 and ages 9 to 12. Find our more about the story writing challenge here: https://www.bocaslitfest.com/children/writing-challenge/