The essays, poems, and stories in Labor of Love explore the depth and breadth of what it means to mother. Literary Mama celebrates mothers and the work they do caring for their families, from soothing tears to playing on the beach to teaching independence. For twenty years, Literary Mama has published the best writing for and by mothers, and this anthology shines the spotlight on the staff who keep the journal going, offering them space to share their own stories. With insight and grace, the mothers gathered here consider challenges like coping with their children’s or their own illnesses, adjusting to divorce, caring for their aging mothers, and encouraging teenage children to leave the nest. A collection that revolves around themes of girlhood, legacy, empowerment, and transition, Labor of Love is a testament to the strength and dedication of mothers, writers, and all those who mother.
Praise for Labor of Love:
Motherhood is a nuanced identity and the contributors to Labor of Love handle it with the care and expertise that are cornerstones of Literary Mama. This anthology is a patchwork quilt of excellence.
—Jamie Sumner, author of Roll with It
Celebrating 20 years of Literary Mama, this evocative anthology explores the transformative power of writing about motherhood across its many stages. Through the voices of writers from Literary Mama’s past and current staff, we are able to witness a reckoning of identity and motherhood and the work of parenting through forms ranging from poignant poetry to captivating fiction to hybrid family histories and reflective personal essays. This important, resonant collection is a snapshot of mothering at many stages that captures the essence of the magazine’s past and present even as it looks towards its future.
—Andrea J Buchanan, author of Five-Part Invention and The Beginning of Everything
The essays, stories, and poems collected here from Literary Mama are raw and beautiful. Though many are about the more trying, painful aspects of mothering, they somehow work as a salve. No thinking, reading, sometimes struggling mother should be without this book.
—Ona Gritz, author of Present Imperfect