On this episode of Rekindled, Andrew Altschul is in conversation with Ellen Meeropol. Andrew Altschul’s third novel, The Gringa, was published the day before the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic. Ellen Meeropol’s fourth novel, Her Sister’s Tattoo, comes out next week, as three-quarters of US citizens are sheltering in place. Both writers have focused on political conflict and matters of social justice in their work, as in their lives; their new books share an interest in such issues, as well as thematic examination of America and Americanness, and questions about the relationship between literature and real life. They spoke on April 1 about the challenges they confronted in writing these novels, and in introducing them to a world in crisis.