Authors: Andrea J. Buchanan & Amy Hudock

ISBN: 1-58005-158-8

The following review was contributed by: Kathryn Atwood: Click Here To View More Of Kathryn's   Reviews

Online “Literary Mama” is not exactly your mother’s parenting magazine. The writing in this “edgy” journal is often, according to its mission statement, “too long, too complex, too ambiguous, too deep, too raw, too irreverent, too ironic, [or] too body-conscious” to be included in the average parenting journal.

“Literary Mama” is not, however, simply a collection of edgy, how-to parenting articles. Rather, it is a high-quality literary celebration (including poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction) of the varied aspects of motherhood. The editors, Andrea J. Buchanan and Amy Hudock, began “Literary Mama” in 2003 in order to fill a void: that of serious literary writing on all things maternal. They wanted to prove that writers who wrote about mothering were not only able to produce beautiful babies but beautiful, intelligent, literary writing on the subject.

The new print anthology, “Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined” – a brilliant case in point – is a “best of” collection from the online journal, which showcases both its “edginess” and superior literary quality. The first of the book’s seven sections, “Creative Acts,” describes attempts (successful and otherwise) to combine the writing life with motherhood. There are two subsequent chapters on gender-specific mothering (“Mothers Raising Women” and “Mothers Raising Men”) followed by a segment entitled “Sex, Fertility, and the Body,” which is obviously the “edgiest” chapter. The longest section and the one I found the most moving is called, “Mothers, Fathers, Parents,” which concerns itself with the dovetailing of parenting past and present. The final two sections titled “Surviving Illness and Loss” and “Healing the Past to Live in the Present” contains literature which focuses on everything from miscarriage to empty nest syndrome.

Although there is sometimes a tinge of “we are smart women, we are cutting-edge mothers” in the pieces included here (which may be put-offing to some readers), there is such a wide range of mothering-inspired emotions in the collection that most parents who enjoy well-crafted literature will find this an engrossing read. “Literary Mama” is a significant achievement that I hope will be one of many subsequent serious literary treatments on the life-altering subject of motherhood.