Motherhood really is a labor of love, and time spent as an editor at the online journal Literary Mama was also described as such. As volunteer editors, we toiled without pay to help emerging and established writers share their stories of motherhood and parenting. We read, we discussed, we fine-tuned other’s writing. We also learned from each other. Every moment, though fun, exhilarating, and enlightening, was also a lot of work.

So it’s very fitting that the latest staff anthology is titled Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology. Former Editor-in-Chief Amanda K. Jaros edited the book, and Harbor Editions (headed by former LM editor Allison Blevins) published the book.

The anthology is now available, and a virtual launch is scheduled for February 1 at 8 p.m. Eastern on Facebook. If you’d like to join us, just click here.

It is a true honor to have a piece accepted into this anthology, where my writing sits along some of the most generous and talented writers and editors I’ve ever met. Several past editors blurbed the book, showing their support for people they may or may not have overlapped time with at Literary Mama.

“Motherhood is a nuanced identity and the contributors to Labor of Love handle it with the care and expertise that are cornerstones of Literary Mama. This anthology is a patchwork quilt of excellence.”
~Jamie Sumner, author of Roll with It

“The essays, stories, and poems collected here from Literary Mama staff are raw and beautiful. Though many are about the more trying, painful aspects of mothering, they somehow work as a salve. No thinking, reading, sometimes struggling mother should be without this book.”
~Ona Gritz, author of Present Imperfect

“Celebrating 20 years of Literary Mama, this evocative anthology explores the transformative power of writing about motherhood across its many stages. Through the voices of writers from Literary Mama’s past and current staff, we are able to witness a reckoning of identity and motherhood and the work of parenting through forms ranging from poignant poetry to captivating fiction to hybrid family histories and reflective personal essays. This important, resonant collection is a snapshot of mothering at many stages that captures the essence of the magazine’s past and present even as it looks towards its future.”
~Andrea J Buchanan, author of Five-Part Invention and The Beginning of Everything