On Writing, Motherhood and Care

This conversation is about two feminist texts, How to Mend: Motherhood and its Ghosts by Iman Mersal and Experiments in Imagining Otherwise by Lola Olufemi, both of which explore care, intimacy and politics.

We discuss questions of literary style through the use of photography, poetry, and personal writing, as well as questions of politics through a focus on the intimate, care work, and how past experiences shape the future.

This is an inter-generational and transnational conversation: while both texts showcase place-based writing that is attentive to context, they also transcend place and engage with a transnational feminist orientation that takes care seriously as a universal experience and as a political question. These texts are exciting examples of experimental writing and publishing, demonstrating the power and beauty of feminist writing in our current moment.

Speakers: Iman Mersal, Lola Olufemi, and Mai Taha

Chair: Sara Salem