Upcoming Readings and Appearances
The Morning Blend - Milwaukee - February 17
I will be discussing writing and motherhood and my forthcoming book, Use Your Words, on The Morning Blend, 9 a.m. on Friday, February 17th! AWP - Chicago - February 29 - March 3, 2012
Will present on the panel "Barefoot, Pregnant, and at the Writer's Desk: Managing Motherhood and the Writing Life."
The Annual Motherhood & Words™ Reading
Fall 2012 - Open Book, Minneapolis
Check back Spring 2012 for information about date, time and readers.
Each year, I coordinate a Motherhood & 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 Motherhood & Words Reading in 2007 as way to showcase excellent literary nonfiction of women writing about motherhood.
Other Recent Presentations and Appearances
October 13, 2011. 5th Annual Motherhood & Words Reading with Jill Christman and Sonya Huber.
September 10, 2011. 2nd Annual MN Blogger Conference. Presented "Make Your Writing Sing."
August, 10, 2011. Forum of Executive Women. St. Cloud, MN
February 2011. Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Tales of Many Mothers: Kate Hopper Helps Moms Put Their Stories of Transition on Paper."
February 2011. AWP. I presented on the panel "Flinging the Inkpot: Resisting Messages about Off-limits Subjects in Memoir" with Jill Christman, Kevin Fenton, Paul Lisicky, and Sue William Silverman.
October 2010. Interview with Marti and Erin at Mom Enough.
October 2010. 4th Annual Motherhood & Words Reading with Hope Edelman and Bonnie J. Rough at The Loft Literary Center. Reading available as a podcast at Mom Enough.
September 2010. The MN Blogger Conference. Presented "Growing as Writers: Taking Your Blog Posts to the Next Level" at CoCo in St. Paul.
June 2010. Minnesota Parent. Interview with me about juggling motherhood and writing.
September 2009. 3rd Annual Motherhood & 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 Motherhood & 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.