Love Pandemic was largely written during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The last poem in the collection was written at the start of the second wave in Africa. Most were circulated through What's App voice notes, an intimate way of keeping distance while reaching out to touch.

Salimah ValianiI is a poet, activist, and researcher. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, of a Ugandan mother and Tanzanian father, like her parents, Salimah left home in her late teenage years and began a journey of study and work that included extended stays in Montreal, Quebec; London (UK); New York City and Binghamton (USA); Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario; and Cape Town, South Africa. She has published four collections of poetry: breathing for breadth (2005);

Letter Out: Letter In (2009); Land of the Sky (2016); and Cradles (2017). Her latest publication is the poem-story," Dear South Africa," one of seven pieces in Praxis Magazine's 2019-2020 Chapbook Series. Check out her work online at: https://www.facebook.com/SalimahValianiPoet.

Salimah Valiani's profile page