S2E1 - Writing the Writer-Mother: Lessons from Biography and Life in Julie Phillips's work

Postpartum Production

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“She said, ‘I don't think a hero can be a mother. I don't think a mother can be a hero.’ And I felt this terrible irritation and frustration that made me realize I want mothers to be heroes. I want them to be heroes, not in the slaying-the-dragon sense, but I just want them to be the heroes of their own stories.” ~ Julie Phillips

Join Kaitlin as she chats with Julie Phillips, an American biographer & book critic, and the author of The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem, which feels like the perfect topic to launch our second season. Julie's previous book, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, received several honors including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Hugo and Locus Awards, and the Washington State book award. She currently lives in Amsterdam with her partner and their two children.

Kaitlin and Julie spoke about:

• Julie’s new book, The Baby on the Fire Escape.
• How we think about motherhood and intellectualism together, and also how we think about motherhood as an intellectual concept.
• What it means to Julie to be sitting at the intersection now of mothering older children and writing biographies of mother writers.
• The concept of maintenance work in relation to the political activism of women and caregivers.

More about Julie Phillips:

Website:https://www.julie-phillips.com/

Instagram: @julievanphillips

Facebook:@JuliePhillips

Order your copy of Julie’s latest book here: The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem

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