The San Diego
Decameron Project
In Fall, 2020, Write Out Loud, San Diego Public Library, the La Jolla Historical Society, and San Diego Writers, INK invited San Diego County authors to submit stories for the San Diego Decameron Project.
This project is inspired by The Decameron, a book written shortly after the Black Death overtook Florence in 1348, and a collection of novellas structured as a frame story by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375).
The book contains 100 stories told by a group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a secluded villa. They fled Florence to quarantine themselves for two weeks from the pandemic that ravaged Europe between 1347-1351.
To pass the evenings each member of the party tells a story each night, except for one day a week for chores and one for religious observance, resulting in ten nights of stories over the course of two weeks.
For the San Diego Decameron Project, local authors were invited to submit previously unpublished fiction or nonfiction narratives based loosely around the theme of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Twenty-five judges read all submissions and chose the top 100 stories. The top 10 most compelling stories were read by Write Out Loud actors and presented in a virtual presentation on February 26, 2021.
All stories submitted will be digitally archived with the San Diego Public Library and La Jolla Historical Society.
Video: San Diego Decameron Project Celebration – February, 2021
The top 100 winning stories are now available for purchase in The San Diego Decameron Project Anthology.