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'OTHERHOOD

In Aotearoa there are more couple-without-children families than other family types, and the number of child-free adults is growing. As editors and writers, we want to give voice to these people and more: to those who are motherhood-adjacent, those who’ve chosen to remain child-free, those who didn’t get to choose, and those who through bereavement or blended family dynamics ask themselves – am I a mother or am I other?

   

OTHERHOOD will explore a common experience that still feels taboo, in a collection of personal essays that tell the stories of people without children, edited by Alie Benge, Lil O’Brien and Kathryn van Beek.

 

OTHERHOOD will be published in May 2024 – so keep an eye out for our book launches planned for Ōtepoti/Dunedin, Pōneke/Wellington, and Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland.

We're thrilled to be working with Massey University Press to bring OTHERHOOD to life. Massey University Press is an award-winning independent publisher renowned for its high-quality, beautifully produced books. We also couldn't have made OTHERHOOD happen without the more than 200 donors who contributed to our Boosted crowdfunding campaign.
 

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Who's in the book?

Inside the covers of OTHERHOOD you'll find 35 incredible essays – and one comic – written by some of Aotearoa’s most exciting writers. We’re also stoked to publish a number of new and upcoming writers.

These hilarious, heartbreaking and thought-provoking essays cover topics including religion, blended families, bereavement, Te Ao Māori, queerness, the foster care system, disability, infertility, domestic violence, abortion, freedom from social expectations  – and of course, the joys of being a big DINK (Double Income No Kids).

 

Our contributors
  • Alie Benge

  • Amie Taua

  • Andi C. Buchanan

  • Anna Borrie

  • Carolijn Guytonbeck

  • Donelle McKinley

  • Feby Idrus

  • Gabrielle Amodeo

  • Ghazaleh Golbakhsh

  • Golriz Ghahraman

  • Grainne Patterson

  • Hazel Philips

  • Helen Rickerby

  • Henrietta Bollinger

  • Hinemoana Baker

  • Iona Winter

  • Jackie Clarke

  • Janie Smith

  • Jazial Crossley

  • Kathryn van Beek

  • Kate Camp

  • Kerry Sunderland

  • Lil O'Brien

  • Lily Duval

  • Linda Collins

  • Linda Rooney

  • Lori Leigh

  • Lucy O'Connor

  • Melanie Newfield

  • Michaela Tempany

  • Nicola Brown

  • Paula Morris

  • Raina Ng

  • Sam Orchard

  • Shaneel Lal

  • Steff Green

ABOUT THE EDITORS

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