Literary Mama

This week we’re running a fascinating conversation between LiteraryMama contributor Deesha Philyaw Thomas and CUNY professor of sociology Barbara Katz Rothman, author of (most recently) Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption. DPT: You have what is, in my experiences with white people, a not entirely popular view of white-skin privilege. You observed that such […]

I’m sure many of you by now have read, or at least heard discussed, the Alpha Mom article in New York magazine a while back. It featured the kind of upper-stratosphere wealth and uber-working-mom gawking/stereotyping that would make Caitlin Flanagan salivate (or at least want to kick herself for not getting to skewer this woman […]

So I’ll share with you here the words of Elise at After School Snack by way of the always wonderful Bitch Ph.D.: Vaginas are scary! Giving birth: it’s a traumatic process, long and drawn out, often resulting in scars and emotional trauma that can make it difficult to be interested in sexual intimacy for some […]

The State published the following article on Literary Mama on the Sunday edition’s front page. We have the wonderful Claudia Brinson to thank! From the article: This is a new generation coming to terms with the demands of motherhood, says Cassie Premo Steele, 38. A mother and stepmother, Steele edited nonfiction for Literary Mama, teaches […]

One of our Review editors, Joanne Hartman, altered me that Literary Mama had appeared in a July 24th San Francisco Chronicle article by Katherine Seligman titled “Ayelet, Unfiltered.” The subtitle reads: “Berkeley writer Ayelet Waldman’s bald honesty about putting her husband first made her a magnet for controversy. Would she take any of it back?” […]

Congratulations to Rachel Sarah, one of our two Senior Columns Editors, for her newly signed book deal with Seal Press for Single Mom Seeking. You can read her Literary Mama column which inspired the book here. Here is the blurb from Publishers Lunch that announced Rachel’s news: July 15 05 Non-fiction: Memoir Rachel Sarah’s SINGLE […]

Jennifer Niesslein and Stephanie Wilkinson are the brains behind Brain,Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers, one of the best print magazines around when it comes to reporting on and exploring the life of mothers. Stacey Greenberg interviews the duo for Literary Mama: SG: How has the material you received changed over the years, if at […]

In our newest columns, Sybil Lockhart (Mama in the Middle) writes about her daughters’ intense connection to one another: [Encouraging their closeness] seemed like a brilliant tactic at the time, but watching Zoë and Cleo now, I wonder what weird dynamic I have created between my children. Zoë depends on Cleo being hers. They seem […]

New in our “Your Commentary” section, editor Dawn Friedman poses the question: What pushes your judgmental button? In her interview with Literary Mama, author Marrit Ingman speaks about the lure of casting a critical eye on other mothers. She says, “It’s hard to reason qualitatively when you are tired and you have an infant, and […]

Brooke Shields got it right in her New York Times Op-Ed piece when she wrote: “comments like those made by Tom Cruise are a disservice to mothers everywhere.” Brava to Brooke for taking the high road and using Tom Cruise’s “performance” on Matt Lauer as a platform to raise consciousness about postpartum depression and to […]

Literary Mama’s own Rebecca Kaminsky interviews Marrit Ingman about her forthcoming memoir, Inconsolable, due out from Seal Press in October. In talking about the book, which explores Ingman’s experience with post-partum depression, they hit upon what’s turned out to be a fruitful topic among mothers: judgement. RK: In the book you talk about the judgment […]