Choose This Now: A Live Reading by Nicole Haroutunian on Motherhood, Artistic Practice, and Publishing

Postpartum Production

This episode of Postpartum Production was recorded live at Blackbird Books Bookstore and Cafe in San Francisco, on a warm Spring day in the shop's back garden. This beautiful event was co-hosted by Recess Collective, a local San Francisco organization that builds inclusive community-centered spaces for families, particularly in the early years of parenting. A heartfelt thank you to both organizations for their efforts in uniting our community on that day, and every day.

That day, Kaitlin joined author Nicole Haroutunian at Blackbird for a reading of her novel Choose This Now, published by Noemi Press this year, with conversation and questions from the audience about her process and inspiration for the book. In the audience were young children and parents wandering in and out; a mother nursing her child for most of the event sitting in the audience. We hope these kinds of readings and author events become more common ways that we can incorporate those whose schedules don't accommodate evening or late night events, but can fold into days when caregiving can, as we know, often feel like the only task.

In addition to readings from Choose This Now, Kaitlin and Nicole discuss:

1. How Nicole has chosen to navigate talking about experiences of early caregiving, friendship, and all the layers that she manages in the book, in a realistic way
2. The experience of having given birth; what shifted in Nicoles life in terms of how she now creates literary works
3. How Nicole relates to her work, and how that fed her characters experiences themselves as well

A special shout out to Artist Residency in Motherhood (ARiM), mentioned in this episode, and Cut + Paste, for bringing Kaitlin and Nicole- and so many other artist mothers- together.

More on Nicole: Nicole is also the author of Speed Dreaming, which was published by Little A in 2015. Her work has appeared in the Georgia Review, Story, the Bennington Review, Joyland, Post Road, and Tin House's Open Bar, as well as many others. She lives with her family in Woodside, Queens in New York City. You can find more of her work at:

• http://nicoleharoutunian.com/
• @nicoleharoutunianwriter

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