Writer Mother Monster: Recent Episodes
Lara Ehrlich
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative pursuits. Hosted by Lara Ehrlich, author of ANIMAL WIFE (Red Hen Press, 2020).
This episode is filmed live at the Stonington Free Library.
Mary Collins is the author of articles, essays, and three books, including her most recent, A Play Book: Creating Writers, Creating Citizens. She is a professor of nonfiction for the Creative Writing Minors at Central Connecticut State University.
Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
Support the Show.
If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
Megan Stielstra is the author of three collections: Everyone Remain Calm, Once I Was Cool, and The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, the Nonfiction Book of the Year from the Chicago Review of Books. Her work appears in the Best American Essays, New York Times, The Believer, Poets & Writers, Tin House, Longreads, Guernica, LitHub, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. A longtime company member with 2nd Story, she has told stories for National Public Radio, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Steppenwolf Theatre, and regularly with the Paper Machete live news magazine at the Green Mill. She teaches creative nonfiction at Northwestern University and is an editor at Northwestern University Press. She has one child, who just turned 16, and describes writer-motherhood in three words as “Oh my God."
Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived on writermothermonster.com
Support the show
If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
Fox North (call them Fox!) is a critically acclaimed novelist for teenagers and adults. Fox, a graduate of the University of Florida’s MFA program in poetry, was a finalist in 2018 with the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the recipient of a Creatives Rebuild NY grant, a Publisher’s Weekly Flying Start, and an Analog AnLab’s Reader’s Choice Award winner. Their novels for teenagers – written under the name Phoebe North – have been published by Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins. Their short fiction, critical writing, and poetry has appeared with Analog, Daily Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Magazine, the YA Review Network, Umbrella Journal, District Lit, 2river View and Strange Horizons (among many others others), and in anthologies such as the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, Hungry Hearts, Among the Shadows, and Speculative Fiction 2015. From their home in the Hudson Valley, they save Girl Scout camps, write songs, climb trees, and have better taste in music than you do.
Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived right here as a video and audio podcast.Support the show
If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
Welcome to a special live episode of Writer Mother Monster, a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. The show is typically streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, and then released as an audio podcast on all major platforms--but today's episode is in-person at the 2023 CT Lit Fest, hosted at Real Art Ways in Hartford, Connecticut.
Today's guest, Dr. Janet Garcia-Hallett, is a criminal justice professor at the University of New Haven's Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences. She earned her PhD in criminal justice from Rutgers University-Newark in 2017. From 2017 to 2021, she worked as a criminal justice professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. At this point, during the pandemic, Janet made the decision to move back to the East Coast to be closer to family and a support network. As an Afro-Latina mother, Janet has maintained a personal interest in mothers' experiences before, during, and after incarceration. Her non-fiction book, INVISIBLE MOTHERS: UNSEEN YET HYPERVISIBLE AFTER INCARCERATION is based on interviews she conducted throughout New York City with formerly incarcerated mothers of color. Her book shares mothers' stories and explores how mothers of color navigate motherhood post-incarceration. Although Janet was first drawn to this work due to her upbringing in Harlem, she continues to study the impact of the criminal legal system and advocate for communities of color. Janet has 3 children ages 7, 4, and 2,, and she describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as Versatile, Determine, Badass.
A special thanks to our sponsors and patrons listed on the Writer Mother Monster website. Your support helps make this show possible. If you enjoy this episode, please become a patron/ess to help keep this podcast going.
Learn more at writermothermonster.com
Support the show
If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
A panel discussion with Chaya Bhuvaneswar, a psychiatrist and author of White Dancing Elephants, who has treated postpartum patients in-hospital, including at a forensic psych ward for women awaiting trial for harming their children. Sharline Chiang is a writer, editor, book coach, publicist, and journalist who wrote, among many other articles, Don’t Call It Baby Blues, the only existing online magazine article on Asian American survivors of postpartum depression. Kathryn Gahl is the author of The Yellow Toothbrush, a look at anxiety, depression, OCD, and paranoid thinking through the eyes of a mother whose daughter is experiencing a jail sentence after committing filicide.
Thank you, viewers and listeners, for helping to make Writer Mother Monster a safe space for our guests to share their stories as we come together tonight to illuminate and complicate what we think we know about postpartum psychosis and depression.
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
Elizabeth Nunez emigrated from Trinidad to the US at age 19. Winner of an American Book Award, an Independent Publishers Award, a PEN Josephine Miles Award, and a Hurston Wright Legacy Award, she is the author of a memoir and ten novels, four of which were selected as New York Times Editors Choice. She is the co-founder with John Oliver Killens of the National Black Writers Conference and executive producer of the series Black Writers in America. She has served on the jury for national and international literary prizes/awards, and is a Distinguished Professor at Hunter College, CUNY. She has one son, age 46, and two granddaughters ages 15 and 22, and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: "life-affirming essential." A few notes! The official Writer Mother Monster shop has everything from t-shirts and tea towels to onesies and undies so you can support the show in style! And this Mother’s Day, May 14, treat yourself to a writing class with me, your host and the author of the story collection Animal Wife. We’ll talk about writer-motherhood, share strategies for prioritizing our craft, and write. You’ll leave the workshop armed with a plan for recommitting to your creative work. Finally, a special thanks to our sponsors and patrons listed on the Writer Mother Monster website. Your support helps make this show possible. If you enjoy this episode, please become a patron/ess to help keep this podcast going. For details on the store, class, and sponsorship, visit writermothermonster.com
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
SAMANTHA SILVA is an author, playwright, and screenwriter based in Idaho. She’s sold film projects to Paramount, Universal, and New Line Cinema, and she is the author of Mr. Dickens and His Carol (Flatiron Books, 2017), and Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft (Flatiron Books, 2021). Sam wrote and directed the award- winning short script, THE BIG BURN, which premiered at the Sun Valley Film Festival in 2017 and adapted Mr. Dickens and His Carol for Seattle Repertory Theater in 2022. Sam has 3 children, ages 28, 26, and 22, and describes writer-motherhood in three words as NECESSITY OF INVENTION.
Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then released as a podcast and hosted on www.writermothermonster.com
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
(February 14, 2023) Rebecca Makkai’s last novel, THE GREAT BELIEVERS, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; it was the winner of the ALA Carnegie Medal, the Stonewall Book Award, the Clark Prize, and the LA Times Book Prize; and it was one of the New York Times’ Ten Best Books of 2018. Her other books are the novels THE BORROWER and THE HUNDRED-YEAR HOUSE, and the collection MUSIC FOR WARTIME—four stories from which appeared in The Best American Short Stories. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Rebecca is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada University and Northwestern University, and is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. Her new novel, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU, is forthcoming in February, 2023. She has 2 kids ages 12 and 15.
Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then released as an audio podcast. www.writermothermonster.com
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
Artress Bethany White, associate professor of English at East Stroudsburg University, is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. She is the recipient of the Trio Award for her poetry collection My Afmerica: poems and the essay collection, Survivor’s Guilt: Essays on Race and American Identity, which received a 2022 Next Generation Finalist Indie Book Award and is listed as a CLMP social justice read. Her research interests include American slave archives and contemporary African American prose and poetics. She has four children ranging in age from 14 to 26, and describes writer-motherhood in three words as Determined, Fierce, Improvisational.
Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
Lisa Czarina Michaud is an American novelist of Italian-Mexican origins whose work is inspired by her life experiences. She attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington before stumbling through adulthood in Los Angeles. In 2009, she followed in the footsteps of her jazz-singing grandmother and moved to France where she currently resides. Her first novel Slanted and Disenchanted explores complex relationships between mother and daughter, sexual tension in friendships, the confusion of adulting...and the soundtracks that get us through it all. Lisa has one son age 7. She describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: take it easy.
Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived on www.writermothermonster.com
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
(November 3, 2022) Sarah M Jasat grew up believing her family was very strange but later discovered she was Indian. She lives in Leicester, UK, and writes short fiction about the strangeness of family. She dreams about writing a novel for older children if only she could get her own children to go to sleep.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived as an audio podcast. www.writermothermonster.com
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
(December 1, 2022) Anna Hogeland is a psychotherapist in private practice, with an MSW from Smith College School of Social Work and an MFA from UC Irvine. She lives in Vermont. Her essays have appeared in LitHub, Gloss, Big Issue, and elsewhere. The Long Answer, sold in 8 countries to date, is her first novel.
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
(November 10, 2022) Yexandra “Yex” Diaz is a multi-disciplinary artist whose oeuvre is her sobering expression of what it is to exist in a world of resistance, resilience, and revolution during a new era of renaissance rooted in healing. Chicago born and New Haven raised, the polarizing reality of oppression juxtaposed alongside privilege inspires Yex, an Oral Narrator, to employ the art of spoken word as a vehicle for messages that raise awareness around social and environmental injustices. Yex’s style uplifts afro-indigenous culture while evoking radical spiritualism to rewrite the dangerous single narratives which plague stigmatized peoples.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived as an audio podcast. www.writermothermonster.com
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
(January 10, 2023) Caroline Hagood is an Assistant Professor of Literature, Writing and Publishing and Director of Undergraduate Writing at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. She is the author of the poetry books, Lunatic Speaks and Making Maxine’s Baby, the book-length essay, Ways of Looking at a Woman, the novel, Ghosts of America, a book-length essay Weird Girls, and her novel Filthy Creation is forthcoming in March 2023. Her work has appeared in publications including Creative Nonfiction, LitHub, the Kenyon Review, Hanging Loose, the Huffington Post, the Guardian, Salon, and Elle. Caroline lives in Brooklyn and has two kids ages 6 and 9. She describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: hybrid effing monster.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived as an audio podcast. www.writermothermonster.com
Support the showIf you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/
(October 13) Caroline Leavitt is the NYT Bestselling author of 13 novels, including With or Without You and Cruel Beautiful World. She is also the cofounder of A Mighty Blaze, a blogger/columnist for Psychology Today, and a book critic for People Magazine. A New York Foundation of the Arts Fellow, she was long-listed for the Maine Readers Prize, and was a Sundance Screenwriting Lab finalist.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then released as a video and audio podcast. writermothermonster.com
Support the show
Shin Yu Pai is a poet, essayist, and visual artist. She is the author of several books of poetry, including VIRGA (Empty Bowl, 2021), and served as the fourth poet laureate of the city of Redmond. In 2014, Shin Yu was nominated for a Stranger Genius Award in Literature. She is the creator and host of The Blue Suit, a podcast on Asian American stories, for KUOW, Seattle’s NPR affiliate. She lives with her husband and 9-year-old son in the Pacific Northwest and describes writer-motherhood in three words as interrelated, elusive, empowering.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then released as an audio podcast.
Support the show
(May 5) This is a special episode on poets writing motherhood with Emily Pérez and Nancy Reddy, co-editors of The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood (UGA, 2022). bell hooks said: “No woman has ever written enough.” This truth demands that we make space for the essential writing of mothers, too. Motherhood is an experience central to all our lives, and The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood features work from queer mothers, single mothers, adoptive and foster mothers, women whose experiences with motherhood include infertility and loss and childlessness and abortion, and more.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived right here as an audio podcast.
Support the show
(May 26) This is a special episode on writing motherhood and sex with Tracey Livesay, Cat Sebastian, and Julie Tieu. Tracey Livesay’s latest release, Like Lovers Do, was named one of the 100 Best Fiction Books of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews and one of the Top 10 Romances of 2020 by Entertainment Weekly. Cat Sebastian has written sixteen queer historical romances and her books have received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Julie Tieu is a Chinese American contemporary romance author based in the Los Angeles area. Her debut novel, The Donut Trap, is loosely inspired by the years she spent working at her family’s donut shop.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived as an audio podcast.
Support the show
(May 19) Elana Bell is the author of Mother Country (BOA Editions in 2020), poems about fertility, motherhood, and mental illness. She is also the founder of the Mother-Artist Salon, a virtual community dedicated to supporting mothers in their artistic practice. Elana’s debut collection of poetry, Eyes, Stones (LSU Press 2012), was selected by Fanny Howe as the winner of the 2011 Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, and brings her complex heritage as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors to consider the difficult question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived right here as an audio podcast.
Support the show
(April 21) Lian Dolan is a writer and podcaster. She is the author of three best-selling novels, The Sweeney Sisters, Helen of Pasadena and Elizabeth the First Wife. Her latest book, Lost and Found in Paris, was published in April 2022 and is a Southern California Indie Bestseller. Lian has written regular columns for Pasadena Magazine, O Magazine and Working Mother Magazine and is the creator, producer, and host of Satellite Sisters, the award-winning podcast she created with her four real sisters. In 2017, Lian was given the Podcast Pioneer Award by Women in Podcasting. She lives in Pasadena, California with her husband and has two adult sons. Lian describes writer-motherhood in three words as Controlled Compartmentalized Chaos.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
(April 14) Chaya Bhuvaneswar is a practicing physician, writer and PEN American award finalist for her debut collection WHITE DANCING ELEPHANTS: STORIES, which was also selected as a Kirkus Reviews Best Debut Fiction and Best Short Story Collection. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, Narrative Magazine, Tin House, Electric Literature, Kenyon Review, The Millions, Joyland, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Awl, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, Squaw Valley/ Community of Writers and Sewanee Writers Workshop. Chaya has 2 kids, age 9 and 12 and describes writer-motherhood as arduous, irrational and fun.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
Mireya S. Vela is a Mexican-American creative nonfiction writer, storyteller, and artist. Vestiges of Courage is her work of collected essays. In her work, Mireya addresses the needs of immigrant Mexican families and the disparities they face every day. She tackles issues of inequity and how ingrained societal systems support the (ongoing) injustice that contributes to continuing poverty and abuse. Her work has been published in Hippocampus Magazine, Noble/Gas Quarterly, Not Your Mother’s Breastmilk, The Nasiona, Miracle Monocle, Blanket Sea, and Collective Unrest, and she is also a visual artist. She she lives in Los Angeles has two children, a 27-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. She describes writer-motherhood in three words as OMG, WTF, LMAO.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
This is a special episode on Writing, Mothering & Gender Identity with Stephanie Burt, Jennifer Chen, and Toni McLellan.We talked about writing and mothering nonbinary and trans children, and writing and mothering as trans and nonbinary mothers. It’s no accident that we held this conversation on International Transgender Day of Visibility, even as LGBTQ+ rights are being attacked throughout the US, from child welfare investigations targeting families of transgender children in Texas to the Florida Senate passing the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill to a bill that sought to repeal New Hampshire’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
Poet Jessica Pierce is the author of Consider the Body, Winged, and has been published in numerous magazines, including Nimrod International Journal selected her as a finalist for the 2020 and 2021 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. She was also a finalist in poetry prizes from CALYX Journal, the New Ohio Review, and MVICW, where she also earned a fellowship. Jessica earned her master’s in education from Harvard and works in a large public school district in Oregon to create anti-racist alternatives to exclusionary discipline. She has two children and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: fuck the patriarchy.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
Note: Due to technical difficulties, there may be moments of awkwardness in this interview. Apologies!
(February 17) Hilda Raz has been a director, award judge, and contributor in this country’s most prestigious poetry journals and contests. She has published 14 books as a poet, nonfiction writer, and editor, including the poetry collections include What Happens (2009), All Odd and Splendid (2008), Trans (2001), and Divine Honors (1997). Her current projects include a book of poems, List and Story and a nonfiction book about transitions. She was editor of the literary journal Prairie Schooner and served as president of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. She lives in Placitas, New Mexico, where she works as the series editor for poetry at the University of New Mexico Press. She has two children in their fifties and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as flexible, brave, collaborative.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
(February 10) Alena Dillon is the author of Mercy House, a Library Journal Best Book of 2020, which has been optioned as a television series produced by Amy Schumer, The Happiest Girl in the World, a Good Morning America pick, My Body Is A Big Fat Temple, a memoir of pregnancy and early parenting, and Eyes Turned Skyward, a novel forthcoming Fall 2022. Her work has appeared in publications including The Daily Beast, LitHub, River Teeth, Slice Magazine, The Rumpus, and Bustle. She teaches creative writing and lives on the north shore of Boston where she has a 3-year-old son and a baby due in June. She describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as fierce, tender, marathon.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
Crystal Maldonado is a young adult author with a lot of feelings. Her debut novel, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, was a Cosmopolitan Best New Book and a POPSUGAR Best New YA Novel. Her next novel, No Filter and Other Lies, explores teenage life in the social media age—and the lies we tell to ourselves and others. By day, Crystal is a social media manager working in higher ed, and by night, a writer who loves Beyoncé, shopping, spending too much time on her phone, and being extra. Her work has also been published in Latina, BuzzFeed, and the Hartford Courant. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and 2.5-year-old daughter and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as chaotic, emotional, sparkly.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
Anna V. Q. Ross’s most recent book—Flutter, Kick—won the 2020 Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award and is forthcoming from Red Hen Press in 2022. She is the author of 3 previous poetry collections: Figuring, If a Storm, and Hawk Weather and her work has received fellowships from organizations including the Fulbright Foundation. She is poetry editor for Salamander, teaches at Emerson College, and lives with her family in Dorchester, MA, where she runs the performance series Unearthed Song & Poetry and raises chickens. She has two kids ages 11 and 14 and describes writer-motherhood in three words as Fractured. Brilliant. Sleepless.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
(November 11) Sara Hosey is the author of Home Is Where the Hurt Is: Media Depictions of Wives and Mothers, which looks at representations of the domestic in popular culture, as well as 2 young adult novels: Iphigenia Murphy and Imagining Elsewhere. She has a Ph.D. in American Literature and is a professor of English, Creative Writing, and Women and Gender Studies at a New York area community college. Sara has an 11-year old and a 9-year old and she and her partner are certified foster parents; they recently had a 4-year old foster daughter staying with them. Sara describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: Fun. Flow Finite.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
(November 4) Sheba Karim is the author of the YA novels Skunk Girl, That Thing We Call a Heart, which made several Best Book lists including Bank Street and Kirkus, and Mariam Sharma Hits the Road, which was named a NPR Best Book of the Year, and The Marvelous Mirza Girls (May 2021). Her fiction and essays have been featured in 580 Split, Asia Literary Review, Femina, India Today, Literary Hub, Off Assignment, Shenandoah, South Asian Review, The Rumpus, Time Out Delhi and in several anthologies in the United States and India. She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is a Writer-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University. Sheba has 2 kids, ages 4 and 7, and describes writer-motherhood in three words as Submission, isolation, wonder.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
Note: Apologies for the technical difficulties at the start--our intro song refused to play!
Kristie Robin Johnson is an educator, essayist, and poet from Augusta, GA. She is the current Chair of the Department of Humanities at Georgia Military College’s Augusta campus where she is an Assistant Professor of English. A graduate of the MFA Creative Writing program at Georgia College and State University, Kristie’s writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received other awards and recognition including the 2020 Porter Fleming Prize for Nonfiction and the 2021 Page Prize for Nonfiction. Her work has been published in numerous literary magazines, journals, and anthologies. Her first book, High Cotton, was released in 2020 by Raised Voice Press and has been recognized as the finalist in the memoir category for 2021 Georgia Author of the Year. Kristie has two sons, ages 14 and 21, and she describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as “inspiring, exhausting, LOVE.”
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
Ramona Ausubel is the author of two novels and two story collections. Her most recent book, Awayland, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, a Finalist for the California Book Award, Colorado Book Award and long-listed for the Story Prize. She is also the author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, No One is Here Except All of Us and A Guide to Being Born. She is the recipient of the PEN/USA Fiction Award, the Cabell First Novelist Award and was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Tin House, One Story, Ploughshares and many other journals and she teaches in the MFA programs at the Institute of American Indian Arts and Colorado State University. Ramona lives in Colorado where she has two children, ages 7 and 10, and describes writer-motherhood in three words as “effort plus magic.”
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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Tara Laskowski’s debut suspense novel One Night Gone won the Agatha Award, Macavity Award, and the Anthony Award, and her second novel, The Mother Next Door, was published in October 2021. She is also the author of two short story collections and was the longtime editor of the online flash fiction journal SmokeLong Quarterly. A graduate of Susquehanna University and George Mason University, Tara lives in Virginia, where she has a nine-year-old son and describes writer-motherhood in three (and a half?) words as “learning to be efficient.”
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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Diksha Basu is an actor and the author of the novels Destination Wedding and The Windfall, which is under adaptation for a television series by Shonali Bose. ELLE magazine said The Windfall broke stereotypes of exoticism surrounding India while The Wire called it a “shrewd and unstintingly funny story about the neuroses of New Delhi’s 1%.”
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(September 2, 2021) Kelly Sue DeConnick is the force behind Carol Danvers’ reinvention as Captain Marvel and is the first female writer of an ongoing Avengers title in AVENGERS ASSEMBLE. In 2013, Kelly Sue debuted on the independent scene with the mythological Western PRETTY DEADLY, followed by the sci-fi kidney-punch BITCH PLANET. She began writing for DC Comics with the ongoing series AQUAMAN in 2018 and develops TV with her husband and partner, Matt Fraction, as Milkfed Criminal Masterminds. Kelly Sue has two children ages 11 and 13 and describes writer-motherhood in three words as Personal, Hilarious, Clarifying.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
Author of seven books, Leslie Lehr explores the duality of today’s women to navigate a new path between sexy and sacred. Salma Hayek is developing Leslie’s critically acclaimed new memoir, A Boob’s Life, into a comedy series for HBO Max.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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Content warning: Childhood sexual abuse
(August 5, 2021) Dorothy Allison’s novel Bastard Out of Carolina was a finalist for the National Book Award, became an award-winning movie, and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She was an award-winning editor for numerous early feminist and lesbian & gay journals and her many publications include The Women Who Hate Me, Trash, and Cavedweller, which became a NY Times Notable book of the year and was adapted for the stage and screen. Dorothy lives in Northern California with her partner Alix and her son, Wolf Michael, and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: Exhausted, Stubborn, Exhilarated.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(July 22, 2021) Margaret Adams writes short fiction, creative nonfiction, and essays. She was a Best American Essays 2019 Notable, the winner of the Blue Mesa Review 2018 Nonfiction Contest, and the winner of the Pacifica Literary Review 2017 Fiction Contest, and she’s a fiction editor for JMWW. Originally from Maine, she currently lives on the AZ/NM border in the Navajo Nation where she works as a family nurse practitioner.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(July 8, 2021) Rachel Yoder is the author of Nightbitch (Doubleday), which has been optioned for film with Amy Adams set to star. She is a graduate of the Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program, holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Arizona, and is a founding editor of draft: the journal of process. Rachel grew up in a Mennonite community in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Ohio and now lives in Iowa City with her husband and son.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(July 1, 2021) With Alicia Elliott, author of the thought-provoking essay collection A Mind Spread Out on the Ground; Liz Harmer, author of a memoir about wrestling with bipolar disorder, her hospitalization as a teenager, and postpartum depression; and Meg Leonard, a poet with a new collection, book of lullabies, that grapples with mental illness and new motherhood.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(June 10, 2021) Kate Baer is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and poet based on the East Coast. She has been featured in publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue.com, Entertainment Weekly, & Literary Hub. Her first book, What Kind Of Woman, is out now with HarperCollins. “In these confident and fearless poems, Baer suggests that the deepest and most vulnerable love is found in life’s imperfections.” (Publisher’s Weekly)Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(June 3, 2021) Kendra DeColo is the author of three poetry collections; most recently I Am Not Trying to Hide My Hungers From the World (BOA Editions, 2021). She has received awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and others, and her poems and essays have appeared in American Poetry Review, Tin House Magazine, Waxwing, Los Angeles Review, Bitch Magazine, VIDA, and elsewhere. She has performed her work in comedy clubs and music venues including the Newport Folk Festival, and she has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Vanderbilt University, and the Tennessee Prison for Women. She currently teaches at The Hugo House and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Kendra reaffirms the action of mothering as heroic, brutal, and hardcore, interrogating patriarchal narratives about childbirth, postpartum healing, and motherhood through the lens of pop culture and the political zeitgeist.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(May 27, 2021) Tananarive Due teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA and is an executive producer on Shudder’s documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. A leading voice in black speculative fiction for more than 20 years, Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books include Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, and The Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authored Freedom in the Family: a Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She has a 17-year-old son and 35-year-old stepdaughter and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as “every single day.”
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(May 13, 2021) Lan Samantha Chang, Director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, is the author of Hunger; Inheritance; All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost; and The Family Chao (W.W. Norton, 2022). She has a 13-year-old daughter and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as “Need more time.” In this episode, Sam talks about growing up one of the only Chinese kids in Wisconsin, offers advice for applying to residencies, and explains her method for writing while raising a family and holding down a demanding career. And, she talks about a real dog in an imaginary book.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(May 6, 2021) Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in fiction and won The Story Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Her children are 17 and 22, and she describes writer-motherhood as “intense, complex, evolving.” In this episode, Deesha talks about starting her writing career when her daughter was 2, what she learned from sending fan mail to other writers, revisiting an abandoned novel, and how she ended her award-winning collection with a sigh.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(April 29, 2021) Sadie Hoagland is the author of Strange Children and American Grief in Four Stages and has two children, ages 6 and 2. She describes writer motherhood as “exhausting, hilarious, real.” In this episode, Sadie talks about multigenerational motherhood, why ambivalence is underrated, her changing relationship with darkness, and the language of trauma. And, she reads an excerpt of her book–from a ghost’s perspective.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(April 24, 2021) Stephanie Burt is a poet, literary critic, professor, and transgender activist who the New York Times called “one of the most influential poetry critics of her generation.” She has two children, ages 11 and 15 and describes writer-motherhood in three words as “busy, conflicted, resourceful.” In this episode, Stephanie talks about claiming motherhood, finding kinship with Mr. Spock, the horror of The Giving Tree, the misery of octopus motherhood, role-playing games, X-Men, and more.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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“Writing was a way of imposing myself, of making a world that was hostile and wanted to render me invisible or dead acknowledge me and deal with me.”
(April 22, 2021) Kim McLarin is a journalist, playwright, novelist, memoirist, literary critic, essayist, and co-author of a memoir by Malcolm X’s daughter Ilyasah Shabazz. She has two children, ages 21 and 23, and describes writer motherhood in three words as “contradictory, depleting, enriching.” In this episode, Kim talks about writing to change the world, navigating the expectations of white-middle-class motherhood, why writing seems less urgent now than in her youth, and why she “didn’t expect to be loved by America.”
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(April 15, 2021) Riché J. Daniel Barnes, a socio-cultural anthropologist who studies Black families, is the author of Raising the Race: Black Career Women Redefine Marriage, Motherhood, and Community. She has a 20-year-old daughter and twin 18-year-old sons, and she describes writer-motherhood in three words as: “Supporter. Creative. Industrious.” In this episode, Riché talks about raising kids while pursuing a PhD, redefining “family time,” and Black Strategic Mothering. And, she reveals the talent she performs at her family talent show!
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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CW: Miscarriage
(March 31, 2021) This special episode is devoted to an issue so many women struggle with, and so few people discuss. Shannon Gibney and Kao Kalia Yang, co-editors of What God Is Honored Here: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color, talk about why it’s important to give voice to this common pain.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of "having it all" and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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CW: Miscarriage
(March 25, 2021) Jennifer Chen is a freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, and Bust on subjects ranging from emotional labor and pro wrestling. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and twin 5-year-old daughters, and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: “longest shortest time.” In this episode, Jennifer shares how to bathe twin newborns, how she deals with internet trolls, and why she writes about miscarriage. And, Jennifer talks about using her platform to raise awareness for the Stop Asian Hate Movement.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of "having it all" and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(March 11, 2021) Rosanna Warren has been publishing “poems of riveting, compassionate darkness and social conscience for nearly 40 years” (LA Review of Books) and is the recipient of awards from the Academy of American Poets, The American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Guggenheim Foundation, and many others. She describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: “frazzled, passionate, surprised.” In this episode, Rosanna talks about writing lines like knife stabs, growing up as the daughter of famous authors, putting poems in a compost heap, and why her girlhood was like Halloween.
Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of "having it all" and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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“Just because other people figured out how to use hangers doesn’t mean I’m ever gonna figure it out. I mean, there’s certain things I just don’t want to spend my time doing.”
(March 3, 2021) Meagan McGovern, who recently went viral in braids and a Target prairie dress, writes about homeschooling, social justice, and the odd quirks of American life. She lives on a farm in Washington state and just finished a memoir about growing up on the run with a mother who was a con artist. She describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: “Everything is copy.” In this episode, Meagan talks about going viral, why she bought her son a farm, and why pandemic homeschooling isn’t real homeschooling. Plus, she pitches the perfect pandemic Zoom dress.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
(February 25, 2021) Beth Ann Fennelly, Poet Laureate of Mississippi, has published 3 books of poetry and a book of essays, Great With Child: Letters to a Young Mother. She lives in Oxford, Mississippi, and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as, “monstrous, magical, mind-bending.” In this episode, Beth Ann talks about how reading about vomit led her down the poetry path, bartering haikus for hamburgers, and why society’s romanticized representation of mothers is damaging. Plus, she shares what makes motherhood more dramatic than Greek myth.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)
(February 18, 2021) Kristin Bair is the author of three novels, most recently Agatha Arch Is Afraid of Everything, and writes about China, bears, adoption, and off-the-plot expats. She lives north of Boston with her husband and two kids and describes writer-motherhood in three words as “Are they asleep?” In this episode, Kristin talks about surviving COVID, the time a famous male poet stomped on her poetry, and why a teenager’s brain is like a snow globe. Plus, she shares what happened when she was locked in a cabinet with a pride of lions.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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(February 11, 2021) Lori L. Tharps is a journalist, podcast host, and author of a novel and 3 nonfiction books, including Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America’s Diverse Families. She has 3 kids and describes motherhood in 3 words as: “inspiring and exhausting.” In this episode, Lori talks about how her children’s different skin tones prompted her latest book, why she buys her kids only dark blue clothes, and how her mother gave her “the talk” by describing a badger’s persistent erection.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of "having it all" and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative pursuits.
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CW: Child loss
“When I was in labor, I was judging the Barnes and Noble First Book Award.”
Ann Hood is the New York Times best-selling author of 14 novels, 4 memoirs, numerous other books, and possibly hundreds of essays. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with her husband and is the mother of Sam (27), Annabelle (16), and Grace, who passed away at age 5. In this episode, Ann talks finding a narrative in grief. She also shares stories from her modeling days and her time as a flight attendant, and explains why she describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as “best thing ever.” Find out what a blind fortune teller once told Ann–and if her prophesy came true.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.
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“The person who made Candy Land should be killed.”Rachel Zucker is the author of 10 books, including, most recently, SoundMachine. She lives in Maine where she is the mother of three boys ages 21, 20, and 13, and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as “attachment, attachment, attachment.” In this episode, she explains why she identifies with Rip Van Winkle, what it’s like to go through a divorce in the midst of a pandemic, and why she thinks the maker of Candy Land should be killed.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“I loved being pregnant in Arkansas.”Elle Nash is the author of the novel Animals Eat Each Other (Dzanc Books), hailed by Publishers Weekly as a “complex, impressive exploration of obsession and desire.” She lives in Colorado with her husband and 3.5-year old daughter, and she describes writer-motherhood in three words as “boundary-building, productive.” In this episode, Elle talked about witchcraft, being pregnant in Arkansas, transgressive fiction, magic, mountains–and more! Find out if Elle can do magic, what she sacrifices for art, and why she doesn’t want to peak until she’s 60.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“Labias to the wall, ladies!”Lyz Lenz is the author of Belabored and God Land and her essay “All the Angry Women” was included in the anthology Not that Bad edited by Roxane Gay. She lives in Iowa with 2 kids and 2 cats anddescribes writing-motherhood in 3 words as “creative and chaotic.” In this episode, Lyz shares the story of how President Biden once (sarcastically) called her “a real sweetheart,” why she no longer matches her socks, and why men get mad at her. Find out why Lyz was kicked out of an online mommies group–and discover the origin of WMM’s new motto: “Labias to the wall, ladies!”Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“I’m for women being just a little bit selfish.”This special episode explores how to create community around motherhood and writing with the co-founders of Scribente Maternum, a community of writers that explores our emotions as mothers, provides space to recharge, facilitates connections with other writers, and inspires personal and collective action. Featuring Rachel Berg Scherer, Carla du Pree, Caytie Pohlen-LaClare, and Elizabeth Doerr.
Scribente Maternum at scribentematernum.com.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“Motherhood turns you into a milk cow.”
Melanie Conroy-Goldman is the author of The Likely World and a Professor of Creative Writing at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She volunteers at a maximum security men’s prison and lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband, daughter and step-daughters. Melanie describes writer-motherhood in three words as: “richly entangled identities.” In this episode, she talks about balancing addiction and motherhood, the urgent need for childcare, and crossing boundaries in writing from life. Find out why she threw Karl Ove Knausgård’s My Struggle across the room.
Writer Mother Monster is an interactive interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“I was surprised at the depth of my anxiety.”Katie Gutierrez is the author of More Than You’ll Ever Know, forthcoming from William Morrow in 2022. She lives in San Antonio, TX, with her husband and two children, ages 2.5 years and 3.5 months anddescribes writer-motherhood in three words as “never enough time.” In this episode, Katie shares that she signed her book contract while breastfeeding. She talks about exploring desire, challenging the messages about motherhood she’d internalized, and rethinking what she considers “writing.”
Writer Mother Monster is an interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“There’s only so much pie, you know?”Daria Polatin is a playwright, TV writer-producer and author who is developing a TV limited series based on her novel Devil in Ohio for Netflix. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and 11-week-old son and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: “stunning, shifting, softening.” In this episode, Daria talks about what it’s like to maintain a fast-paced career in television with a newborn at home…in a pandemic. And, find out why she didn’t tell her colleagues she was pregnant until the last second.
Writer Mother Monster is an interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“Dolly Parton and Obama are really good grownups.”Katie Peterson is the author of four collections of poetry and directs the MFA program in Creative Writing at UC Davis. She lives in Berkeley, California with her husband and their 3-year-old daughter, and she describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: “always play first.” In this episode, Katie talks about how having a daughter has awakened her to her own animal nature, her generation’s ambivalence about family, finding poems on walks, what it means to be a grownup. Plus, she just SAYS poetry like: “The truth is its own difficult animal that needs to be cajoled and sometimes restrained.”
Writer Mother Monster is an interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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Note: Due to technical difficulties, there may be moments of awkwardness in this interview. Apologies!
“Getting cancer made me a better writer.”Tzynya Pinchback is the author of the book of poetry How to Make Pink Confetti and was a finalist for 2020 Poet Laureate of Plymouth, Massachusetts. She lives in Massachusetts, has a 23-year-old daughter, anddescribes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: “primal. theater. sanctuary.” In this episode, Tzynya shares how her poetry has evolved throughout her battle with cancer, how her role as a mother shifted when helping her daughter through trauma, and how she has had to reset her expectations for herself again and again.
Writer Mother Monster is an interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“I’m interested in my own desire.”Liz Harmer is the author of The Amateurs and Strange Loops, forthcoming in 2022. She’s a Canadian living in California with her children who are 13, 11, and 8, and describes motherhood in 3 words as “challenge and delight.” Liz came to our interview straight from the ER, and there’s probably a lesson in there about how mothers feel the need to be superwomen, pushing ourselves to exhaustion. She also talks about transgression, mental health, and the evolution of desire.
Writer Mother Monster is an interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“It’s a powerful desire to become.”Blair Hurley is the author of the novel, The Devoted, and lives in Canada with her husband and 7-month-old daughter. Blair shares her joy in new motherhood and her eagerness to see how this shift in her identity will play out in her writing. She explores the difference between sentiment and sentimentality in writing, why we pass judgement on transgressive women characters, and writing on a thin edge between tenderness and viciousness.
Writer Mother Monster is an interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
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“Growing a person in my guts. That’s bananas.”Amy Shearn is the author of the novels Unseen City, The Mermaid of Brooklyn, and How Far Is the Ocean From Here and lives in Brooklyn with her children ages 9 and 11. In this episode, Amy talks about giving up on perfection, how divorce has impacted her writing, practicing stoicism, and how “bananas” it is “to grow a person in your guts.” Find out how a woman at a playground inspired Amy’s second book.
Writer Mother Monster is an interview series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/writermothermonster)