Writer Mother Monster

(May 19) Elana Bell is the author of Mother Country (BOA Editions in 2020), poems about fertility, motherhood, and mental illness. She is also the founder of the Mother-Artist Salon, a virtual community dedicated to supporting mothers in their artistic practice. Elana’s debut collection of poetry, Eyes, Stones (LSU Press 2012), was selected by Fanny Howe as the winner of the 2011 Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, and brings her complex heritage as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors to consider the difficult question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived right here as an audio podcast.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

(May 5) This is a special episode on poets writing motherhood with Emily Pérez and Nancy Reddy, co-editors of The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood (UGA, 2022). bell hooks said: “No woman has ever written enough.” This truth demands that we make space for the essential writing of mothers, too. Motherhood is an experience central to all our lives, and The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood features work from queer mothers, single mothers, adoptive and foster mothers, women whose experiences with motherhood include infertility and loss and childlessness and abortion, and more.

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived right here as an audio podcast.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

(April 21) Lian Dolan is a writer and podcaster. She is the author of three best-selling novels, The Sweeney Sisters, Helen of Pasadena and Elizabeth the First Wife. Her latest book, Lost and Found in Paris, was published in April 2022 and is a Southern California Indie Bestseller. Lian has written regular columns for Pasadena Magazine, O Magazine and Working Mother Magazine and is the creator, producer, and host of Satellite Sisters, the award-winning podcast she created with her four real sisters. In 2017, Lian was given the Podcast Pioneer Award by Women in Podcasting. She lives in Pasadena, California with her husband and has two adult sons. Lian describes writer-motherhood in three words as Controlled Compartmentalized Chaos.

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

(April 14) Chaya Bhuvaneswar is a practicing physician, writer and PEN American award finalist for her debut collection WHITE DANCING ELEPHANTS: STORIES, which was also selected as a Kirkus Reviews Best Debut Fiction and Best Short Story Collection. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, Narrative Magazine, Tin House, Electric Literature, Kenyon Review, The Millions, Joyland, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Awl, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, Squaw Valley/ Community of Writers and Sewanee Writers Workshop. Chaya has 2 kids, age 9 and 12 and describes writer-motherhood as arduous, irrational and fun. 

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

Mireya S. Vela is a Mexican-American creative nonfiction writer, storyteller, and artist. Vestiges of Courage is her work of collected essays. In her work, Mireya addresses the needs of immigrant Mexican families and the disparities they face every day. She tackles issues of inequity and how ingrained societal systems support the (ongoing) injustice that contributes to continuing poverty and abuse. Her work has been published in Hippocampus Magazine, Noble/Gas Quarterly, Not Your Mother’s Breastmilk, The Nasiona, Miracle Monocle, Blanket Sea, and Collective Unrest, and she is also a visual artist. She she lives in Los Angeles has  two children, a 27-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. She describes writer-motherhood in three words as OMG, WTF, LMAO.

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

This is a special episode on Writing, Mothering & Gender Identity with Stephanie Burt, Jennifer Chen, and Toni McLellan. We talked about writing and mothering nonbinary and trans children, and writing and mothering as trans and nonbinary mothers. It’s no accident that we held this conversation on International Transgender Day of Visibility, even as LGBTQ+ rights are being attacked throughout the US, from child welfare investigations targeting families of transgender children in Texas to the Florida Senate passing the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill to a bill that sought to repeal New Hampshire’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors.

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

Poet Jessica Pierce is the author of Consider the Body, Winged, and has been published in numerous magazines, including Nimrod International Journal selected her as a finalist for the 2020 and 2021 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. She was also a finalist in poetry prizes from CALYX Journal, the New Ohio Review, and MVICW, where she also earned a fellowship. Jessica earned her master’s in education from Harvard and works in a large public school district in Oregon to create anti-racist alternatives to exclusionary discipline. She has two children and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as: fuck the patriarchy.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

Note: Due to technical difficulties, there may be moments of awkwardness in this interview. Apologies!

(February 17) Hilda Raz has been a director, award judge, and contributor in this country’s most prestigious poetry journals and contests. She has published 14 books as a poet, nonfiction writer, and editor, including the poetry collections include What Happens (2009), All Odd and Splendid (2008), Trans (2001), and Divine Honors (1997). Her current projects include a book of poems, List and Story and a nonfiction book about transitions. She was editor of the literary journal Prairie Schooner and served as president of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. She lives in Placitas, New Mexico, where she works as the series editor for poetry at the University of New Mexico Press. She has two children in their fifties and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as flexible, brave, collaborative.

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

(February 10) Alena Dillon is the author of Mercy House, a Library Journal Best Book of 2020, which has been optioned as a television series produced by Amy Schumer, The Happiest Girl in the World, a Good Morning America pick, My Body Is A Big Fat Temple, a memoir of pregnancy and early parenting, and Eyes Turned Skyward, a novel forthcoming Fall 2022. Her work has appeared in publications including The Daily Beast, LitHub, River Teeth, Slice Magazine, The Rumpus, and Bustle. She teaches creative writing and lives on the north shore of Boston where she has a 3-year-old son and a baby due in June. She describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as fierce, tender, marathon.

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

Crystal Maldonado is a young adult author with a lot of feelings. Her debut novel, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, was a Cosmopolitan Best New Book and a POPSUGAR Best New YA Novel. Her next novel, No Filter and Other Lies, explores teenage life in the social media age—and the lies we tell to ourselves and others. By day, Crystal is a social media manager working in higher ed, and by night, a writer who loves Beyoncé, shopping, spending too much time on her phone, and being extra. Her work has also been published in Latina, BuzzFeed, and the Hartford Courant. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and 2.5-year-old daughter and describes writer-motherhood in 3 words as chaotic, emotional, sparkly.

Writer Mother Monster is a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice as we make space for creative endeavors.

Support the show

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/