Claire Oshetsky the author of the novel Chouette, which was longlisted for the 2022 Pen/Faulkner award for fiction and won the 2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Chouette was also named to the Honor List for the Otherwise Award, given annually to works of science fiction or fantasy that best explore gender roles, and it was shortlisted for the Barbellian Prize, dedicated to the furtherance of disabled voices in writing. Claire’s second novel, Poor Deer, came out in January 2024 and has been named “One of the Best Books We’ve Read in 2024” by the New Yorker. Claire’s short fiction has been featured in Chicago Quarterly, Alaska Quarterly, Hayden's Ferry, North American Review, and many others. She lives in Santa Cruz, California, and has 2 children, ages 24 and 28. Claire describes writer-motherhood in three words as “BETTER THINK TWICE.”

Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived as a video and audio podcast. www.WriterMotherMonster.com

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If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

This episode is filmed live at the Stonington Free Library.

Mary Collins is the author of articles, essays, and three books, including her most recent, A Play Book: Creating Writers, Creating Citizens. She is a professor of nonfiction for the Creative Writing Minors at Central Connecticut State University.

Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice.

Support the Show.

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/

Megan Stielstra is the author of three collections: Everyone Remain Calm, Once I Was Cool, and The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, the Nonfiction Book of the Year from the Chicago Review of Books. Her work appears in the Best American Essays, New York Times, The Believer, Poets & Writers, Tin House, Longreads, Guernica, LitHub, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. A longtime company member with 2nd Story, she has told stories for National Public Radio, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Steppenwolf Theatre, and regularly with the Paper Machete live news magazine at the Green Mill. She teaches creative nonfiction at Northwestern University and is an editor at Northwestern University Press. She has one child, who just turned 16, and describes writer-motherhood in three words as “Oh my God."

Writer Mother Monster is a community and conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of having it all and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. Each episode is streamed live on Facebook and YouTube, then archived on writermothermonster.com

Support the Show.

If you appreciate what you hear, consider becoming a patron/ess of Writer Mother Monster. Depending upon your level of support, you can tell me who you want to hear and topics you’d like to hear about, send me questions for guests in advance of interviews, receive a letter of thanks, a signed book–and more! Thank you for contributing to WMM’s sustainability. www.writermothermonster.com/donate/