Class

6-Week: The Mother Writer

This multi-genre course is for anyone who identifies as a mother and a writer, and anyone who sometimes feels the tension between those roles. It's designed to give mother writers a place to write and to engage in a community of artistic support.

The bulk of each class will be time to write––something difficult to come by for a mother––and will be book-ended by discussions and opportunities to share work. Each class session will begin with a brief in-class reading and discussion.

Class texts include excerpts from The Mother Artist by Catherine Ricketts, poems by Maggie Smith, Jenny Zheng, and Dorothea Lasky, podcast excerpts from Bjork's Sonic Sounds, and images by visual mother artists such as Alice Neel, Senga Nengudi, and Carmen Winant.

After each discussion, students will receive writing prompts and have time to write to the prompt or work on their own projects. The last part of class will be an informal opportunity for students to share their work out loud and receive verbal feedback and encouragement from the teaching artist and fellow students.

There will be no "homework." As the mother of a toddler herself, this Loft teaching artist aims to make this class as accessible, productive, and supportive as possible.

Please email [email protected] at least two to three weeks in advance if you have any accessibility requests for this class. PLEASE NOTE: the elevator in Open Book will be unavailable for use from July - August 2025 due to modernization. This class takes place in-person, at the Loft at Open Book. Please see the Loft’s website for the most up to date information about the Loft’s COVID policies.