Double Lives: Writing and Motherhood

Writing is intellectual, solitary work, and mothering too often seen as its antithesis. Marni Jackson’s The Mother Zone, published in 1992, gave many readers their first insights into the life of a mother/writer. Yet despite having writers such as Adrienne Rich, Alice Munro, Tillie Olsen and Margaret Laurence to guide and inspire them, mothers who are writers still often feel overwhelmed - even in the 21st century, a writer new to mothering may wonder if she will ever write again. In Double Lives, the first literary anthology focusing on mothering and writing, twenty-two writers, who range in reputation from seasoned professionals to noteworthy new talents, reveal the intimate challenges and private rewards of nurturing children while pursuing the passion to write. Varying widely in age, marital status, sexual orientation, culture/ethnicity, and philosophical stance, authors such as Di Brandt, Stephanie Bolster, Linda Spalding, Janice Kulyk Keefer, Sharron Proulx-Turner, Sally Ito Rachel Rose and Susan Olding, make significant and illuminating contributions to our understanding of how writer and mother co-exist.