Experience the world through Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo’s eyes as you explore his new photo essay encapsulating the Everyday Pandemic.

Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo (born 1971) is a Cuban writer from Havana. Since 2016, he has been studying for a PhD in Comparative Literature at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. He blogs at Lunes de Post-Revolución and OrlandoLuisPardoLazo.com. His articles are published by a number of magazines and websites: Smithsonian Magazine, In These Times, Evergreen Review, Sampsonia Way, Human Geography, The Mantle, Words Without Borders, Chess Life, Cuban Counterpoints, Linden Lane Magazine, and others. Since 2001, he has published four short-story books in Cuba: Collage Karaoke (2001), Empezar de cero (2001), Ipatrías (2005), and Mi nombre es William Saroyan (2006). Since 2013, he has published abroad the digital photo-book Abandoned Havana (Restless Books, NY, 2014), the book of narrative Boring Home (El Nacional, Venezuela, 2014), the narrative anthology Cuba in Splinters (O/R Books, NY, 2014), and the compilations of his fictionalized chronicles Del clarín escuchad el silencio (Hypermedia, 2016), Espantado de todo me refugio en Trump (Hypermedia, 2019) and Uber Cuba (Hypermedia, 2021).

About the Series: These photos are a part of our ongoing series exploring isolation, exile, and “The Everyday Pandemic.” With the arrival of COVID-19 new realities emerged. Isolation became ubiquitous. Everyday movement suddenly came with great risk. The spaces that once brought order and safety became malleable and uncertain. Throughout this series it is our hope to create an alternative conversation to the dominant COVID-19 discourse: one that captures the daily toll of life through the pandemic from the perspective of writers and artists who are familiar with the experience of isolation and exile. With this in mind, we’ve collected stories, poems, nonfiction essays, and digital art from writers and artists from all walks of life and from all around the globe.