Louise O'Neill: air travel - and public speaking - in the time of the Delta variant

"I had forgotten what it was like to be trusted with such stories, forgotten what it was like to be witness to those sorrows. But I had also forgotten what a privilege it was, and how humbling too."

Louise O'Neill's first non-Irish dates after the Covid crisis were a different experience than before. Photo: Cathal Noonan

It was January when I received the invitation to the book festivals — the Berlin International Literature Festival and the Festivalletteratura in Mantova, Italy — and I readily accepted.

September 2021 seemed such a long time away, then - I presumed Covid would be behind us. I did not foresee the Delta variant, nor did I anticipate the rising rates of infection and hospitalisations.