2020 was an unexpected year. It was a year of coping, of losing our way and our loved ones, of finding new boundaries, discovering new skills and coming to terms with the uncertainty of life. How could anyone have anticipated what this year would bring?

My main focus of 2020 was to write one poem every day for the entire year. I’ve been writing for most of my life, but this was the first time that I took time every single day to dedicate towards creating. Sometimes it was just a blurb or a haiku, other times I bled out into long stream of consciousness pieces or messy sonnets, but I made sure to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard every day. To help me reach this goal, I created prompts for every day of the year to guide my writing, and I shared them on my social media channels to help inspire others into writing.

I have other projects planned for this year, but for the time being, I wanted to address the sources of inspiration that I grew from as an artist in this past year. To cope with the world rocking on its axis in 2020, I found myself immersed in various art forms and spent more time digesting creative media than I have in years. I learned the basics of sewing and guitar, wrote a poem for every day of this year, I read 70 books, and I continued the process of outlining and working away at the novels and short stories that I have been sitting on for far too long.

So here are the books, songs, and other art pieces that helped me stay inspired and get through 2020.

POETRY

~ If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Sappho, compiled by Anne Carson
~ Honeybee by Trista Mather
~ Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
~ Life of the Party by Olivia Gatwood
~ Submerge by K.Y Robinson

NOVELS

~ Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
~ Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien
~ The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
~ Tangerine by Christine Mangan
~ The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
~ The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
~ Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
~ The October Country by Ray Bradbury
~ Mythos by Stephen Fry

NON-FICTION

~ Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
~ Happy Fat: Taking Up Space In A World That Wants To Shrink You by Sofie Hagen
~ Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
~ The Stranger In The Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
~ Fluent Forever: How To Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It by Gabriel Wyner

MUSIC

~ The Vampire Masquerade by Peter Gundry
~ Focus and Best Part by H.E.R
~ Summer 2020 by Jhene Aiko
~ Green Eyes by Arlo Parks
~ Honey by Kehlani
~ Love Songs by Kaash Paige
~ Dive and Go There With You by Victoria Monet
~ Make It Home and EAT by Tobe Nwigwe
~ Frozen by Sabrina Claudio
~ Stand Up by Cynthia Erivo
~ Vienna by Billy Joel
~ Black Habits I by D Smoke ft. Jackie Gouche
~ Made In America by Jay Z, Kanye West ft. Frank Ocean

VISUAL ART

~ Woman on Knees (Mujer de Rodillas) by Diego Rivera
~ The Embrace by Egon Schiele

TV/FILM

~ 13th
~ I Am Not Your Negro
~ Carol
~ Avatar: The Last Airbender

I hope that despite the trials and tribulations of this year that you are all doing well and are ready for this coming year! I would love to hear about the art you drew inspiration from or the creative undertakings you accomplished over the course of this year!

Sending love,
Ariel