Literary Mama

August inspires great storytelling. This is the month that has given its summer climate and seasonal backdrop to novels many of us literary mamas will know well.

The life-work balance for mothers is often jagged during the summer vacation, especially in July. “Life is like a jigsaw puzzle, you have to see the whole picture, then put it together piece by piece!” ― Terry McMillan

Thank you for participating in our “Mama And…” prompt series! Our February prompt was “Mama And … Relaunching”.   Check out our prompts each month, giving you the chance to voice experiences and thoughts on a whole range of topics related to being both Literary and/or a Mama. April’s prompt is: Mama And … Spring Cleaning […]

The Ides of March have been and gone and we’re heading onwards into spring. Here at Literary Mama we hope your month of March has held some enjoyable slices of time, perhaps in celebrating Mardi Gras, March Madness, International Women’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, or the Northern Hemisphere’s First Day of Spring.

What have your memorable March moments been this year?

The hiatus of Literary Mama gave staff time to pause, and from that pause came some realizations as Editor-in-Chief Amanda Fields noted in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue. What community looks like has changed since 2020, and it continues to change, but that doesn’t mean that community isn’t needed. In fact, it seems that people have […]

As mothers who embrace the power of reading and writing about motherhood, we all know it is a journey filled with pride, pain, discovery, and a constant need to decompress.  That’s why the Literary Reflections team is excited to hear from you. The department is currently accepting essays exploring the varied experiences of mothers who […]

Writing and motherhood have commonalities. Both involve a birthing—of ideas or babies. At times, both demand more from us than what we feel we have the supply to give; we spend long nights, early mornings, and weary afternoons managing them. They require us to adapt and grow in every way imaginable. We revise our previous […]

As a queer feminist sexuality researcher, I didn’t quite know what to expect when going to see the Barbie movie. People often perceive me as femme, but I don’t identify that way. My research delves into gender, beyond identity or physical gender expressions. I strive to unpack the multifaceted aspects of gender, investigating the distinctions […]

At 7:30 on a Monday morning in the high school office, I listen as the principal explains to my ex-husband how he will mentor, not fire, the wrestling-coach-turned-algebra-teacher who called our older daughter a bitch. “Mr. S is young,” Principal W says. “He made a mistake.”  I am thinking about how twenty-five years ago, I […]

If you’re reading this, you know how hard it is to make time for writing as a mom. After changing diapers to cleaning up messes and helping with homework and cleaning up more messes, it’s not always easy to dive into a writing project and find your flow. But as a mama writer, writing is […]

Welcome to our Calls for Submissions page. Here, we’ll feature new publication opportunities for all our Mama readers. Look for updated posts every other month. Don’t see a favorite magazine? Some close submission windows during the summer months, so check back in the fall. The list below contains plenty of literary magazines that are accepting […]