(M)Othering: an anthology

(M)othering is a universally understood phenomenon that speaks to the act of becoming something unexpected and entirely outside ourselves. And this book is a collection of writing and art about that. Fifty-six contributors illuminate the kind of gritty, body mind soul transformations that only the mothering myth can evoke. Their work will take you to wonder and wildness, kindness, beauty, grief, love. These writers and artists show us what it means to create, to birth something, to love it, to suffer loss, to let go. They share their truths about trans-generational trauma. Some write of broken women, mothering their mothers and sisters, choosing not to be mothers. Having many mothers. Mothering grown children. Men who want to be mothered. Others tackle identity, adoption, abortion, addiction, self-care, sacrifice, nature and nurture, making art, unravelling, invention, loneliness, anger, laughter and joy. They are queer, Métis, Indigenous, French, male, Jewish, Mennonite, descendants of the Niisitapi (Blackfoot) and the Cree, settlers and immigrants. In unison, they speak about experiences far beyond the pathologizing of the pregnant female body. “The (M)othering anthology is as varied, complex, heart wrenching, joyful, poignant, warm, fraught, funny, whimsical, tragic, contradictory, and lovely as the experience of motherhood itself. I highly recommend the beautiful literary and visual offerings of this outstanding group of wise artists.” —Angie Abdou, author of This One Wild Life: A Mother-Daughter Wilderness Memoir