Bridging the distance between being a mom and being an artist can feel impossible at times. A new anthology edited by Stacey May Fowles and Jen Sookfong Lee explores “the fraught, beautiful, and complicated relationship between motherhood and creativity.”

This week at thewalrus.ca, we excerpted Teresa Wong’s essay about her portrait series based on her toddler’s tantrums. It’s one of twenty essays in the new collection Good Mom on Paper: Writers on Creativity and Motherhood. 

Teresa Wong is a writer-in-residence at the University of Calgary and the author of Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression. Stacey May Fowles is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and novelist, the author of four books, and the editor of four anthologies. Jen Sookfong Lee was a columnist for CBC Radio One, has taught fiction at Simon Fraser University, and co-hosts the literary podcast Can’t Lit with Dina Del Bucchia.

First we hear from Fowles and Lee about where the idea for this anthology came from and why they work well together as co-editors.

Then Fowles and Lee describe the guidance they gave to the twenty authors in the collection, and Wong talks about the process of pitching and developing her essay.

As Wong’s editor, Fowles discusses what drew her to Wong’s writing and to this essay in particular.

Wong finishes by describing the absolute worst tantrum she has ever witnessed.

• Screaming and Watercolours: I Turned My Toddler’s Tantrums into Art

This episode of The Deep Dive was produced by Simran Singh and Angela Misri and edited by Angela Misri. Thanks so much to Stacey May Fowles, Jen Sookfong Lee, and Teresa Wong for joining us this week.

Music for this podcast is provided by Audio Jungle. Our theme song is “This Podcast Theme” by Inplus Music. Additional music includes “Stay Cool” by Loops Lab and “Oh My,” by Patrick Patrikilous and “Umbrella Pants” by David MacLeod.

Umbrella Pants by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4559-umbrella-pants

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license