Current Daphne Jackson Trust fellow Dr. Kimberley Chandler took part in the New Mothers’ Writing Circle during maternity leave with her second child in 2025.Â
“I don’t think that my return to work would’ve been quite as easy without The New Mothers’ Writing Circle, and I’m so very grateful.”
The eight-week programme, founded by Catrin Kemp, creates space for mothers to explore matrescence through creative writing. She explains:
“The New Mothers’ Writing Circle began as a thought experiment in 2019: What would happen if women had space to process their matrescence through creative writing?
That word: Matrescence. It means the process of becoming a mother. Coined in the 1970s by anthropologist Dr. Dana Raphael, it’s a normative stage of development comparable in significance to adolescence.”
Catrin designed the programme around themes she identified while reading extensively on motherhood during her recovery from postnatal depression in 2017–18. These recurring themes now shape the structure of the Writing Circle:
- Lack of language & shock
- Identity or Identities
- Friendships, Relationships and Community
- Love and Wonder
- Rage and Shame
- Sleep, Rest and Productivity
- Culture and Difference
- Time and legacy.
Through guided journaling and creative practice, participants build supportive routines, connect with others navigating similar transitions, and develop confidence in articulating their experiences. This growing fluency in the language of matrescence strengthens their sense of self, ambition and creativity.
Kimberley added;
“I am so grateful to Catrin for the inspiration, support, creative energy, kindness, and enthusiasm that she’s shown me over the past eight weeks.”Â
Catrin’s work aims to ensure that mothers retain access to their confidence and creative voice, even within what can be an isolating and disorienting period – often shaped by wider structural challenges. Find out more about the New Mothers’ Writing Circle and how it supports mothers through this transition here.
Dr Kimberley Chandler is returning to her research after a 5-year break, Kimberley’s Fellowship is entitled: “Making Mothers: creative intersections between craft and mothering”.
Kimberley’s research uses oral histories to explore the experiences and broader social and cultural implications of expert craft practitioners balancing craft and motherhood. She is funded by AHRC and hosted at London South Bank University.
