Barren - Judy LeBlanc

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Biographie:
Judy LeBlanc's stories, essays and reviews have appeared in Canadian magazines and in the Demeter Press anthology, Don't Tell: Family Secrets. The Promise of Water, a collection of short stories, preceded her novel, The Broken Heart of Winter. Her most recent book, a memoir in essays, Permission to Land was published in 2024. She has a background in youth and family counselling and taught creative writing at North Island College for several years. Tasha Page RSW is a social worker and a mom of two amazing IVF babies. Tasha's own journey with infertility, high risk pregnancy, and pregnancy loss led her to be a passionate advocate for reproductive mental health. Tasha is privileged to live on the unceded territory of the K' omoks First Nation where she owns and operates Glacier Counselling, a private counselling practice specializing in perinatal mental health. When she's not working, Tasha can be found riding her mountain bike or skiing while trying to keep up with her kids....

Sommaire:
Barren invites the reader to inhabit the world of infertility as experienced by those who live in it. Theirs is not the typical story of a predictable timeline of planned pregnancy and a healthy full-term pregnancy leading to the birth of a healthy baby. This normative birth narrative discounts the reality of one in four birthing persons who experience pregnancy loss and one in six with fertility challenges. Failing to include these stories in pregnancy and birth discourse furthers the stigma of infertility, causes isolation, and can contribute to poor mental health outcomes. Barren amplifies the voices of those who've experienced barriers to fertility including high-risk pregnancy and pregnancy loss. These folks have accessed assisted reproductive technology and/or surrogacy, have chosen adoption or are child free, not by choice. The contributors to Barren tell their story through personal essay, academic research, poetry and visual art. Despite the heartbreak of infertility, they demonstrate resistance, resilience and empowerment on their path to parenthood....