Maternal Journal Podcast Launches today

Hear from ten exceptional writers who share insights about their parenting journeys and discuss how creativity can positively impact mental health and well-being.

Photograph of mothers holding young children looking happy
Maternal Journal Founding Mothers Group

A new Maternal Journal podcast series launches today, led by artist, producer and midwife Laura Godfrey-Isaacs and  featuring 10 exceptional writers and funded by Arts Council England. To support the podcast, Dr Jessica Bradley is working with creative practitioners from the Re-Emerge arts and health programme to run a series of online Maternal Journal workshops, supported by the School of Education Research Development Fund. Each workshop will focus on creative activities developed by the authors featured in the podcast. Authors include Saima Mir, Sinéad Gleeson, Nikesh Shukla, Jacqueline Saphra, Sandra Igwe, Sarah Lightman, Leah Hazard, Katherine May, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Julie Phillips and Henny Beaumont. The first podcast launches on Wednesday 20th September and features Saima Mir. Find out more and listen here

Since January 2022 Dr Jessica Bradley in the School of Education has been working closely with the Art House in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, to research and evaluate the Re-Emerge programme, which includes Maternal Journal workshops. Working with Laura Godfrey-Isaacs on the podcast project enables Re-Emerge Maternal Journal practitioners to lead the online workshops, drawing on their rich experiences of working with mothers in Wakefield and the surrounding areas. Jessica’s own research explores community and belonging at the intersections of language and the arts. 

Recent publication: 

Simpson, J. & Bradley, J. Belonging-in-Interaction: Expressing and Performing Translocal Belongings Through Language and Arts Practice, Applied Linguistics, 2023.  https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amad041

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