Mother or Other?

'Otherhood' is a collection of essays by writers without children and explains how some of them chose to be childfree, how some didn’t get to choose, and how some - through bereavement or blended family dynamics - ask themselves: Am I a mother or am I other? Two of the three editors will discuss the importance of this question for modern Aotearoa and celebrate the writers who contributed to this candid, empathetic, generous and brave collection.

Lil O’Brien is an internationally award-winning copywriter, who has written for many of New Zealand’s top corporates. Her 2020 memoir Not That I’d Kiss a Girl has had a great impact on Aotearoa’s LGBTQ+ community.

Kathryn van Beek was the 2023 Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago. Her articles about infertility have appeared on The Spinoff and in The New Zealand Herald. She was the driving force behind the change to the Holidays Act that provides bereavement leave for miscarriage.

Lil, Kathryn and London-based Alie Benge are the editors of 'Otherhood'.