Upcoming Readings and Appearances
MN Blogging Conference
When: Saturday, Sept. 11 - 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. - St. Paul
What: I'll be leading the session Growing as a Writer: Taking Your Blog Posts to the Next Level
For more information, click here.
The Annual Mother Words Reading
SAVE THE DATE for the 4th Annual Mother Words Reading
When: Thursday, October 7, 7 pm - Open Book, Minneapolis
Who: I will be reading with Bonnie J. Rough and New York Times Bestselling author, Hope Edelman
What: Each year, I coordinate a Mother Words Reading. So often in our society, writing by a group of people is lumped together and dismissed. This has certainly been the case with motherhood literature. In 1976, Adrienne Rich began Of Woman Born with this: “We know more about the air we breathe, the seas we travel, than about the nature and meaning of motherhood.” Three decades later, we have made some headway: a few literary journals featuring motherhood writing have emerged, motherhood scholarship has found a place in some academic settings, and a number of books about motherhood have been published. Yet, motherhood literature is still largely ignored, and motherhood memoir, christened “momoir,” is routinely dismissed. But like all great writing, literature about motherhood, is, as Patricia Hampl says about memoir, “an attempt to find not only a self but a world.” Motherhood literature is not about motherhood; it uses motherhood as a lens through which to see the world. I launched the annual Mother Words Reading in 2007 as way to showcase excellent literary nonfiction of women writing about motherhood.
Other Recent Presentations and Appearances
September 2009. 3rd Annual Mother Words Reading with Vicki Forman and Kate St. Vincent Vogl at The Loft Literary Center.
September 2009. I talked about my classes, blog, and the annual Mother Words reading as a guest on FM107.1's "Good Enough Moms" show.
May 2009. The Loft Literary Center's Memoir Festival. I presented with Bonnie J. Rough on the panel "Selling Your Memoir: Lessons from the Trenches."
March 2009. I talked about writing and motherhood as a guest on FM107.1's "Good Enough Moms" show.
February 2009. I presented on the panel "Parents as Writers: Our Children as Subjects" at the 2009 AWP Conference, Chicago.
January 2009. I presented on a panel of Twin Cities bloggers for the group "Eat, Drink and Get Published" in Minneapolis, MN.