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The Long Devotion - by Emily Pérez & Nancy Reddy (Paperback)

The Long Devotion - by  Emily Pérez & Nancy Reddy (Paperback) - 1 of 1
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About this item

Highlights

  • The Long Devotion is a collection of poems, essays, and writing prompts that celebrates motherhood and creates a space, as poet Molly Spencer has written, to "tell an unlovely truth about family life and not have to take it back.
  • About the Author: Emily Pérez (Editor) EMILY PÉREZ is an English and gender studies instructor and grade-level dean at Colorado Academy.
  • 248 Pages
  • Literary Collections, Essays

Description



About the Book



"The Long Devotion is a collection of poems, essays, and writing prompts that celebrate the joy and wonder of motherhood and create a space for mothers to, as poet Molly Spencer has written, "tell an unlovely truth about family life and not have to take it back." The book carries forward the essential work of previous motherhood anthologies by speaking to our current moment through the work of many of the most exciting mid-career poets and by diversifying the voices and range of experiences presented. Motherhood is very much in the zeitgeist, making the timing ideal for an anthology with this scope. This volume contributes to vital current conversations about motherhood and engages in this important political work of promoting women's voices as they speak about the joyful and challenging parts of their lives. While many previous motherhood anthologies have focused on the experiences of married, straight, white, middle-class women, the contributors in this collection are diverse in terms of racial background, gender, sexual identity, and experiences of motherhood. The work in this book encompasses step-parenting; infertility; intersections of parenting and race; adoption and foster parenting; ambivalence about motherhood; parenting while struggling with chronic illness, mental illness, and disability; and parenting children who live with illness and disability. This rich range of perspectives is essential for understanding and portraying our moment and will encourage many women who have not previously seen their lives reflected in motherhood anthologies to engage with the book. In addition to poems, the book includes essays that engage writing and motherhood across a range of contexts, presenting multiple and complex answers to questions that mother-writers are always asking each other: How do you do it? How do you mother and write?"--



Book Synopsis



The Long Devotion is a collection of poems, essays, and writing prompts that celebrates motherhood and creates a space, as poet Molly Spencer has written, to "tell an unlovely truth about family life and not have to take it back."

The poets in this book represent and describe a wide range of experiences. They write about encountering the world anew through their children; intersections of parenting and race; single parenting; adoptive, foster, and step-parenting; life with chronic illness, mental illness, and disability; and the choice to remain childless. The book is divided into four parts. "Difficulty, Ambivalence, and Joy" considers the wonder and challenges of parenting--including infertility, pregnancy, miscarriage, and life with children--and trying to write in the midst of those demands. "The Body and the Brain" explores the cerebral and bodily labor of caregiving and writing. "In the World" brings parents and their children into contact with the natural and political landscape. Finally, "Transitions" looks at how parenting and writing change as children grow up. Poems range from linear narratives and imagistic lyric to poetry comics, speculative futures, and experimental forms. Essays and poems suggest ways to write through the disruptions and chaos of family life. Prompts invite readers to use the work in this book as a starting point for their own poetry.

As candid accounts of motherhood become more prevalent across literary, pop culture, and digital spaces, the way we talk about writing and mothering is changing. Poets have long challenged traditional motherhood narratives. This book brings together a new generation of exciting and provocative voices for the first time.



Review Quotes




For many mothers, writing isn't optional; it's essential. As Khadijah Queen writes in "Mothering Solo," "Being a mother often makes the act of writing even more urgent, more sanity-saving, more necessary." The Long Devotion is an encouragement to mother writers everywhere that their experiences matter.--Crystal Rowe "Literary Mama"

A necessary text for every mother laboring to make space for her writing in this world.--Katherine Indermaur "Colorado Review"

I loved reading this book--a compelling and timely anthology of poetry and nonfiction devoted to the theme of motherhood. . . .Editors Pérez and Reddy have taken care to organize four sections that offer real insight into the facets of mothering, and they are inclusive in their selections.--Sandra Beasley "author of Made to Explode"

This anthology fulfills a need in the poetry anthology market because not only does it address "typical motherhood" and its challenges, but also single parenting, foster motherhood and adoption, and even more importantly, perspectives across class, race, and sexual preference.--Jeannine Hall Gailey "author of Field Guide to the End of the World"

This worthy book succeeds in its central aspirations: to realize the rich, creative synergies between writing and mothering; to offer sustainable strategies for navigating the demanding and undetermined intersections--bodily, psychologically, ethically, politically, etc.--of writing and mothering; and to promote the knowing of motherhood as valuable both to those who read and write through its lenses, as well as those who don't (yet) share this diverse vantage on humanity.--Geffrey Davis "author of Night Angler"



About the Author



Emily Pérez (Editor)
EMILY PÉREZ is an English and gender studies instructor and grade-level dean at Colorado Academy. She is the author of What Flies Want, winner of the Iowa Prize; House of Sugar, House of Stone; and the chapbooks Backyard Migration Route and Made and Unmade. She lives in Denver, Colorado.

Nancy Reddy (Editor)
NANCY REDDY is associate professor of writing and first-year studies at Stockton University. She is the author of Pocket Universe; Double Jinx, a 2014 winner of the National Poetry Series; and the chapbook Acadiana. She lives in Collingswood, New Jersey.

Dimensions (Overall): 9.2 Inches (H) x 6.1 Inches (W) x .5 Inches (D)
Weight: .78 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 248
Genre: Literary Collections
Sub-Genre: Essays
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Format: Paperback
Author: Emily Pérez & Nancy Reddy
Language: English
Street Date: April 1, 2022
TCIN: 88966966
UPC: 9780820360546
Item Number (DPCI): 247-15-8805
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
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Shipping details

Estimated ship dimensions: 0.5 inches length x 6.1 inches width x 9.2 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 0.78 pounds
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