EP 13 - “The Good Mother”: Namrata Poddar on the Emotional Labor of the Caregiver-Artist Bind
“I'm still trying to make sense of a culture of caregiving that ‘good mothers’ are good caregivers…A ‘good mother’ is someone who doesn't question or resist caregiving, whereas men are never socialized into that narrative.”
~ Namrata Poddar
Namrata Poddar writes fiction and non-fiction, is an editor for Kweli journal and teaches literature and writing at UCLA. Her work has appeared in several publications including Poets & Writers, Literary Hub, Longreads, The Kenyon Review, and The Best Asian Short Stories. Her debut novel, Border Less, was a finalist for Feminist Press’s Louise Meriwether Prize, and is longlisted for The Center of Fiction First Novel Prize.
Namrata joined Kaitlin in this episode to talk about:
Her book, Border Less - a novel about the migratory journal of Dia Mittal, an airline call center agent in Mumbai who is searching for a better life.
Becoming a Mother-Writer: Notes on Reconciling the Personal, the Professional, and the Political - an essay she wrote for Poets & Writers.
How she experiences her mothering identity as a feminist living in a patriarchal society.
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More about Namrata Poddar:
Website:http://www.namratapoddar.com/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/writerpoddar/
Order your copy of her book here: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/978173617678
Related resources:
Find out more about Border Less -https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781736176788
Namrata’s essay, Becoming a Mother-Writer | Poets & Writers: https://www.pw.org/content/becoming_a_motherwriter_notes_on_reconciling_the_personal_the_professional_and_the_political
Camille T. Dungy’s 2017 nonfiction book, Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys Into Race, Motherhood, and History - https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9780393356083
Angela Garbes new book, Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change - https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9780062937360
Sylvia Federici, Revolution at Point Zero: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781629637976
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