Explores how Rich's work has influenced feminist scholarship on motherhood.

In the years since the publication of Adrienne Rich's Of Woman Born, the topic of motherhood has emerged as a central issue in feminist scholarship. Arguably still the best feminist book on mothering and motherhood, Of Woman Born is not only a wide-ranging, far-reaching meditation on the meaning and experience of motherhood that draws from the disciplines of anthropology, feminist theory, psychology, and literature, but it also narrates Rich's personal reflections on her experiences of mothering. Andrea O'Reilly gathers feminist scholars from diverse disciplines such as literature, women's studies, law, sociology, anthropology, creative writing, and critical theory and examines how Of Woman Born has informed and influenced the way feminist scholarship "thinks and talks" about motherhood. The contributors explore the many ways in which Rich provides the analytical tools to study and report upon the meaning and experience of motherhood.

Dr. Andrea O'Reilly is Professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at York University, founder/editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative and publisher of Demeter Press. She is co-editor/editor of twenty books including Feminist Parenting: Perspectives from Africa and Beyond and The Routledge Companion to Motherhood and author of three monographs including Matricentric Feminism: Theory Activism and Practice. She is twice the recipient of York University's Professor of the Year Awardâ for teaching excellence and is the 2019 recipient of the Status of Women and Equity Award of Distinction from OCUFA (Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations).She is the mother of three adult children.

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"This book is a thought-provoking array of disparate though wide-ranging essays." — Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering

"?the essays are diverse in discipline and tone." — University of Toronto Quarterly

"I can hardly imagine a more relevant or more universal subject. O'Reilly examines not only how Rich's book changed scholars' views of motherhood, but also how it changed their voices?adding a chorus of personal insight to their professional and academic research findings." — Mary Kay Blakely, author of American Mom: Motherhood, Politics, and Humble Pie