with writer Claire Thomas
Today I’m speaking with Mother & Writer Claire Thomas, Author of “The Performance”, one of my absolute favourite novels of the year.
You are in for a real treat! The conversation that I share with Clare is SO rich with philosophical musings on motherhood. Clare brought some profound thoughts to this ongoing conversation that I have here at Mother/other and left me with a lot to digest.
Claire speaks of how her motherhood journey coincided with the launch of her writing career ( her baby was just 2 weeks old at her first book launch) then exhausting herself creatively until her third baby came along and restarted her creative life in ways she couldn’t have imagined.
Claire really made me see Motherhood in a new light which I find quite groundbreaking. She talks of motherhood as being a relationship with a new person, and not a static condition called motherhood which we oftentimes frame it as.
“There are multitudes of ways that human beings can learn that control is an illusion but becoming a mother is a very good one for that.”
A note on the technical – yet again in my Postpartum brain haze I lost my own audio file for this conversation so I have used my backup, which is not great. Some of you may not care too much, for those of you who do, I hope it doesn’t throw you off and I really implore you to stick around because it’s a truly curious and satisfying conversation, unpacking the label and experience of motherhood.
Feature image by Leah Jing McIntosh
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Show Notes:
This episode is sponsored by Wellread – a curated book subscription service that handpicks the best new literary titles and delivers them straight to your door. Enter MotherOther at the checkout to receive 15% off your first order.
Claire’s Books:
– The Performance – Claire – Thomas
– Fugitive Blue – Claire Thomas
Books Discussed:
The Yellow Notebook – Helen Garner
A Life’s Work – Rachel Cusk
The Cost of Living – Deborah Levy
Eleven Hours – Pamela Erens
Mother Reader – Moira Davey
The Spare Room – Helen Garner
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Original Music by J. Dale Pearson.
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