Books about Parenting & Creativity
Entwined Bibliography 🌿
I read a lot of books whilst researching motherhood & parenting in my first year as a mum. While I don’t believe any one book has all the answers each of these played a part in helping me process becoming a parent.
These are the books (and resources) that inspired Entwined, Discover Your Creative Ecosystem, and This is My Brain on Motherhood.
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Overwhelm & Burn Out
The books that were most impactful in my research were these.
All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership by Darcy Lockman
Dads Don’t Babysit: Towards Equal Parenting by David Freed & James Millar
Burn Out: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski & Emily Nagoski
Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte
Memoirs
Notes on a Life by Eleanor Coppola
The Blue Jay’s Dance by Louise Eldrich
Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin
The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May
The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits
Growing Gills by Jessica Abel
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Happy Mum Happy Baby by Giovanna Fletcher
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Creativity
The following books aren’t about parenting, but I found them very helpful whilst weaving together motherhood & creativity.
The Crossroads of Should & Must by Elle Luna
Conscious Creativity by Philippa Stanton
Learning by Heart by Corita Kent
All Along You Were Blooming by
Start Where You Are by Meera Lee Patel
Sparked by Jonathan Fields
The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer1
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson
The Gifts of Imperfection & Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell (This is a very dense academic read.)
The Artist’s Way & The Right to Write by Julia Cameron
I think we need to give ourselves more grace than Julia does - particularly during early motherhood. But her writing is still an integral part of my creative lineage.
Free Digital Resources
Artist’s Residency in Motherhood by Lenka Clayton
The origin of the term “mental load.”
Unravel Your Year (FREE workbook) by Susannah Conway
The Five Minute Garden Approach by Laetitia Maklouf
To Be a Mother is to Be Constantly Interrupted by Michele Gregoire Gill
Manifesto for Maintenance Art by Mierle Laderman Ukeles
Articles & Academic Studies
How Arts Can Improve Your Mental Health
The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature
Men Do More at Home, But Not as Much as They Think (NY Times, Gifted)
Redistribute Unpaid Work (UN Women)
How Mierle Laderman Ukeles Turned Maintenance Work into Art
Neuroconsequences of Sleep Deprivation
Poor Sleep Quality Linked to Postpartum Depression
Romantic Relationships Take a Dive After Baby Arrives
How To Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Feminist researchers have also found that many women don’t feel that they deserve long stretches of time to themselves, the way men do.” (Woman’s Greatest Enemy is the Lack of Time to Herself, The Guardian.)
The best thing ever written about work life balance. (Austin Kleon)
Brigid Schulte: Why time is a feminist issue
Gender
I think we need a lot more spaces for parents to connect outside the gender binary.
Here are some books by creative dads.
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
And a nonbinary parent.
Like a Boy But Not a Boy by Andrea Bennett
I’d love to hear your favorite books and resources regarding motherhood and parenting in comments below.
Cheers,
P.S. Here are some breadcrumbs I didn’t trace to their source.
“I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.”
Out of Solitude by Henri J. Nouwen
(Emphasis mine. I think this may have unconsciously played a role in inspiring Mother, Interrupted.)
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I preordered The Motherhood of Art by Marissa Huber & Heather Kirtland the moment they announced it. I confess it has been languishing on my shelf waiting for a “quiet moment” to enjoy. I think it’s time to pull it off the shelf and weave it into my daily chaos.
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“In the documentary Look & See, Wendell Berry talks about how he thinks art-making is actually given meaning by interruption. Here’s writer Winn Collier’s recollection of a discussion with Berry on the topic: You have been given a gift to help you resist the temptation to believe that your writing must never be interrupted. The modern idea that our art must always come first and never be interrupted is complete BS. I can’t live that way with my land. When you have a mule and it needs something, you can’t tell it to wait. I can’t tell Tanya to wait. I couldn’t tell my kids to wait, I still can’t most times. I can’t help but be interrupted by my neighbor. Now, I have some ways of being unfindable when I have to be, but I’m going to be interrupted.”
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“The most potent muse of all is our inner child.” Stephen Nachmanovitch
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“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.” C. G. Jung
via The Collected Works of Jung
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Flow The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
Content warning for this one. More details here. (I find Stoygraph is a helpful tool to learn whether a specific book is for me.)
Love this list! Saving for future reference. I’d absolutely add Matrescence by Lucy Jones and The Best Most Awful Job edited by Katherine May. These two were anchors in my first year of motherhood.❤️
This is wonderful! I've read and loved a few of these and recognize some others, but many are totally new to me and I'm looking forward to going through the list. Thank you so much for taking the time to compile all this!