Motherhood and Creative Work (NEMLA)
Boston, MA
Organization: NEMLA
Event: NEMLA
In keeping with the theme of surplus, this session invites participants to share creative work (any form) that engages with the theme of motherhood/parenthood in all its pluses and minuses. The path to becoming a parent can be complicated, and sometimes fraught: infertility, pregnancy loss, navigating the foster system, adoption—there are demands on the body, the mind, and the heart. For those Americans who do not want to be parents, there are the increasing challenges of living in a post-Roe world. There is a surplus of legislation, and a surfeit of choice. We want to hear about what is lost—and what is gained—in the lived experience of motherhood/parenthood, or of those who choose not to become parents. We want to consider those losses, whether of our prepartum bodies, our expectations for our own families, or the limited ability to have agency in the decisions around reproduction. We also want to consider the gains—the ways in which the path to building a family can bring joy or pain, freedom or constriction. We welcome literary nonfiction, poetry, fiction, hybrid or genre-bending works, visual art, music, performance, or any other artistic form that allows you the fullness of expression about your family life, whatever that may look like. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A/conversation with the audience.
Elizabeth Bolton