Raising Mothers

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"Stepping It Hotter This Year." Raising Mothers is open for submissions
Now that back to school is out of the way, send us your best work! Plus, so much more.
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Sherisa de Groot
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Raising Mothers

Radical Joy

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We Are Each Other
"Grandma Pearl taught me that if I want you to be free, I am required to do more than just acknowledge your existence."
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Ashley Pugh

Essay

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He Doesn’t Linger: Processing the Trauma of Black Lives
"How do you explain to others that in our community there is multi-generational trauma that lives in our bones, lives in the desecrated names we refuse…
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Regina Cash-Clark
The Orca and the Spider: On Motherhood, Loss, and Community
"Even though we lived an ocean apart for more than two decades, each loss was like sawing off a table leg, causing the whole structure to wobble and…
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Grace Loh Prasad
“How to Travel with Kids while Getting Life-Changing News” EXCERPT from ALL WATER HAS PERFECT MEMORY by NADA SAMIH-ROTONDO
"You speak with your father for the first time in thirty years and forget how to carry on a conversation."
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Nada Samih-Rotondo
"ORDINARY LOVE" an Excerpt from BORDERLESS by Namrata Poddar
As new parents, Dia and Neel had often heard from older couples in their families that the early years of marriage are rosy rosy rosy.
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Sherisa de Groot
“This wasn’t a Black woman thing.”: An Excerpt from Adiba Nelson’s ‘Ain’t That A Mother: Postpartum, Palsy, and Everything in Between’
"Everyone had always told me I was going to be such a good mother, and I had always seen myself with four or five children, but here I was faced with…
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Adiba Nelson

Shop Talk

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Shop Talk with Lucy Yu of Yu & Me Books
"I always wanted to represent a wide range of literature that included Asian-American authors and writers while showcasing the large variety of the…
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Dara Mathis
Shop Talk with Ashley Valentine of Rooted MKE
“In every bookstore I’ve visited, Black books are in a section while White books are celebrated from wall to wall."
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Dara Mathis
Shop Talk with Tia Hamilton of Urban Reads Bookstore
“People think they can’t learn from felons. The smartest person and the hardest-working person you’re going to find comes from prison. People need to…
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Dara Mathis
Shop Talk with Katherine Morgan of Grand Gesture Books
Katherine Morgan is the founder and owner of Grand Gesture Books, a new, online-only (for now!) bookshop that specializes in romance books.
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Dara Mathis

Unfolding Inheritance

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The Big Chop
"I’d lived my whole life craving my mother’s approval, but I was twenty-three, setting out on my own to write stories and live a life that was mine."
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Kristen Gentry
My Two Dads
"Having both of my fathers in the same room without Mama was weird. Everything was weird and had been for a while."
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Kristen Gentry
The New Me
"I remember the darkness of Erika’s apartment, how dark the whole world felt, how scared I was."
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Kristen Gentry
Buying Time
"I couldn’t imagine the days to come when she would be around, but only faintly, her presence as flimsy as the coins’ glint."
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Kristen Gentry

Ten Questions

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Ten Questions with Devi S. Laskar
"Read, read, and read. Read every day."
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Sherisa de Groot
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Devi Laskar
Ten Questions with Renee Rutledge
"Write what you feel you want to write at the moment that you want to write it. Then put it away."
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Sherisa de Groot
Ten Questions with Shannon Sanders
"There are tons of so-called “rules” in writing, but every last one of them can be broken if done well. If you want to try something, try it!"
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Sherisa de Groot
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Shannon Sanders
Ten Questions with Chin-Sun Lee
"Write into your obsessions—whatever feels hot or urgent."
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Sherisa de Groot
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Chin-Sun Lee

Books on Books

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Six Novels with Summer as a Backdrop
"Some classics, some classics to be – all of these are worth a spot in your beach bag as you battle the heat and take a much-needed vacation."
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Ain Heath Drew
What Should Expecting Black Mothers Read?
When I found out I was pregnant with my first child in 2014, I was given a copy of the popular how-to manual, What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I…
A Mirror of Memories | Phyllis Myung on Julia Lee’s memoir, ‘Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in a Black and White America’
“Most of the time, I found myself reading this book with a fist in air and furiously highlighting passages while crying bittersweet tears of healing.”
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Sherisa de Groot
“We Called Ourselves A Movement” An Excerpt from LaToya Jordan’s ‘To The Woman In The Pink Hat’
Audio Transcript
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Sherisa de Groot
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LaToya Jordan

Mom's the Word

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Meet our Editors: Dara Mathis
Plus, Register for KIN KEEPERS this Saturday!
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Sherisa de Groot
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Dara Mathis
Gloria Alamrew is Loving the Journey
Welcome to Mom’s the Word! This is where we let our hair down, or off, or up and out. It’s for parents, but also aunties, play cousins, best friends and…
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Sherisa de Groot
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Gloria Alamrew
🎉 Raising Mothers Turns 9! Join the Celebration! 🎉
Help us grow by becoming a paid subscriber! More details inside. Plus everything we've got going on all August long!
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Sherisa de Groot
Bee Quammie on Preserving and Cultivating Caribbean Culture in Motherhood
Plus, her favorite Canadian spots, recent reads and what's new at Raising Mothers & Literary Liberation!
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Sherisa de Groot
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Bee Quammie

Comics

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On Motherhood
"His favorite new toy is blocks! We think he's a GENIUS!"
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Malaka Gharib
Never Has This Momma Ever…CRIED SO HARD
Thank you for supporting us in big & small ways since 2015!
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Sherisa de Groot
Never Has This Momma Ever…TAKEN A BITE OUT OF MY CHILD’S COOKIE
A comic by Lisa Lim
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Sherisa de Groot
Never Has This Momma Ever…FALLEN ASLEEP DURING MOVIE NIGHT
[red_box] Thanks for reading! Childcare costs $20/hour in most cities.
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Sherisa de Groot
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