Labor Pains And Birth Stories, Jessica Powers (ed.), and Mslexia Issue 52

Abstract

The most recent issue of the key women's writing journal Mslexia devoted its collection of new writing to the theme of maternity (pp. 27-41). Such an anthology is created in each issue of the journal: as with other literary magazines (for instance the journal Fuselit) women submit poems and short stories relating to a stipulated theme. This review examines the anthologizing turn with respect to maternity in both Mslexia and an interesting small press in America, Catalyst Books, which has a line focusing specifically on anthologies of maternity, generating submissions both through the press itself and through the related e-zine 'The Fertile Source'. i Jessica Powers, Catalyst Books' editor, resists the commercialising aspect of the