THE FRUITS OF LABOUR
Creativity, Self-Expression and Motherhood
edited by Penny Sumner
£8.99
With Julia Darling
Alice Walker
Sue Woolfe
Louise Erdrich
and many more
From the practical demands of having children, to the change of identity it brings, The Fruits of Labour speaks to every woman's experience of motherhood: the need for 'a room of one's own', the difficulty of balancing a career with the demands of child-rearing, post-natal depression, the 'ideal' of motherhood, holdong on to one's sense of self, choosing not to have children, giving birth and the empty nest.
Alice Walker talks about her decision to have only one child; Sue Woolfe mourns the absence of stories about real motherhood; Adrienne Rich writes of the social acceptance but also expectations that having a child can bring; Jacqueline Morreau contects the different stages in her children's lives with the development of her art and politics; and Louise Erdrich brings to mind the 're-experiencing of childhood's passions and mysteries.
Penny Sumner
is an Australian who lives in Newcastle Upon Tyne where she teaches creative writing and contemporary literature at the University of Northumbria. She has written two crime novels, The End of April and Crosswords as well as editing Brought to Book, all published by The Women's Press.