Mother: Mother (Original)

Jacket Description/Back: Perhaps our most powerful and significant emblem, Motherhood forms the very fabric of our lives. Mothers leave enduring memories in our hearts and influence our culture - art, theater, film, literature, and television. In this exceptional collection, some of today's most prestigious and gifted writers come together to share their personal reflections on motherhood. From a woman's choice to become a mother to the intimate inner workings of a mother's relationship with her children, the full, rich cycle of motherhood is brought exquisitely to life. These stories, poems, and essays - some never before published - are both real and imagined, and penned by daughters, sons...and mothers. Biographical Note: Claudia O'Keefe's short stories have appeared in several anthologies and magazines. She is the author of two novels, "Gawkers" and "Black Snow Days, " and began her writing career as a correspondent for "The St. Petersburg Times." She is the granddaughter of Walter O'Keefe, a Broadway composer and radio legend of the 1940s. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives on Treasure Island in Florida. Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [v]-vi). Publisher Marketing: Perhaps our most powerful and significant emblem, Motherhood forms the very fabric of our lives. Mothers leave enduring memories in our hearts and influence our culture-- art, theater, film, literature, and television. In this exceptional collection, some of today's most prestigious and gifted writers come together to share their personal reflections on motherhood. From a woman's choice to become a mother to the intimate inner workings of a mother's relationship with her children, the full, rich cycle of motherhood is brought exquisitely to life. These stories, poems, and essays-- some never before published-- are both real and imagined, and penned by daughters, sons... and mothers. From Amy Tan's essay on a first-generation American mother and her acculturated daughter to Nora Ephron's account of living under the aegis of a career mother who drank as hard as she worked; from Maya Angelou's moving poem epitomizing the strength of a welfare mother to Mary Higgins Clark's poignant essay about her wild Irish mother; and from Joyce Carol Oates's haunting tale in which a woman finds herself visited by the ghosts of unborn children to Laurie Colwin's stirring story revealing a woman's thoughts and feelings as she's about to give birth, this collection will have you by turns laughing, crying, and waxing nostalgic. Whether you're far from your mother, just a door away, or long for the days when your relationship was simpler, this remarkable anthology promises to touch your heart, calm your spirit, and remain forever in your memory. Publisher Marketing: Perhaps our most powerful and significant emblem, Motherhood forms the very fabric of our lives. Mothers leave enduring memories in our hearts and influence our culture -- art, theater, film, literature, and television. In this exceptional collection, some of today's most prestigious and gifted writers come together to share their personal reflections on motherhood. From a woman's choice to become a mother to the intimate inner workings of a mother's relationship with her children, the full, rich cycle of motherhood is brought exquisitely to life. These stories, poems, and essays -- some never before published -- are both real and imagined, and penned by daughters, sons...and mothers. From Amy Tan's essay on a first-generation American mother and her acculturated daughter to Nora Ephron's account of living under the aegis of a career mother who drank as hard as she worked; from Maya Angelou's moving poem epitomizing the strength of a welfare mother to Mary Higgins Clark's poignant essay about her wild Irish mother; and from Joyce Carol Oates's haunting tale in which a woman finds herself visited by the ghosts of unborn children to Laurie Colwin's stirring story revealing a woman's thoughts and feelings as she's about to give birth, this collection will have you by turns laughing, crying, and waxing nostalgic. Whether you're far from your mother, just a door away, or long for the days when your relationship was simpler, this remarkable anthology promises to touch your heart, calm your spirit, and remain forever in your memory. Publisher Marketing: Perhaps our most powerful and significant emblem, Motherhood forms the very fabric of our lives. Mothers leave enduring memories in our hearts and influence our culture -- art, theater, film, literature, and television. In this exceptional collection, some of today's most prestigious and gifted writers come together to share their personal reflections on motherhood. From a woman's choice to become a mother to the intimate inner workings of a mother's relationship with her children, the full, rich cycle of motherhood is brought exquisitely to life. These stories, poems, and essays -- some never before published -- are both real and imagined, and penned by daughters, sons...and mothers. From Amy Tan's essay on a first-generation American mother and her acculturated daughter to Nora Ephron's account of living under the aegis of a career mother who drank as hard as she worked; from Maya Angelou's moving poem epitomizing the strength of a welfare mother to Mary Higgins Clark's poignant essay about her wild Irish mother; and from Joyce Carol Oates's haunting tale in which a woman finds herself visited by the ghosts of unborn children to Laurie Colwin's stirring story revealing a woman's thoughts and feelings as she's about to give birth, this collection will have you by turns laughing, crying, and waxing nostalgic. Whether you're far from your mother, just a door away, or long for the days when your relationship was simpler, this remarkable anthology promises to touch your heart, calm your spirit, and remain forever in your memory.

Contributor Bio:  O'Keefe, Claudia Claudia O'Keefe is the editor of the anthology "Mother, " praised as "a literary feast" "(USA Today), " and available from Pocket Books. Her newest anthology, "Father, " is forthcoming in trade paperback from Pocket Books. She is the author of the novels "Gawkers" and "Black Snow Days;" her short stories have appeared in several anthologies and magazines. Ms. O'Keefe is the granddaughter of Walter O'Keefe, a Broadway composer and radio legend of the 1940s. Contributor Bio:  Kellerman, Faye Faye Kellerman lives with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Contributor Bio:  Tan, Amy AMY TAN is the author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life, Saving Fish from Drowning, and two children's books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa, which was adapted into a PBS television series. Tan was coproducer and coscreenwriter of the film version of The Joy Luck Club and wrote the libretto for The Bonesetter's Daughter opera. Her essays and stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, and her work has been translated into thirty-five languages. She lives with her husband in San Francisco and New York. Contributor Bio:  Oates, Joyce Carol Joyce Carol Oates is one of our most important and well known writers and one of America s foremost writers of the short story form. She is also a regular contributor of reviews and criticism for the New York Times Book Review, The New York Review of Books, and elsewhere. She also reads and lectures widely throughout the US, at universities and bookstores. Contributor Bio:  Clark, Mary Higgins Mary Higgins Clark's books are worldwide bestsellers. In the US alone, her books have sold more than 100 million copies. Her latest suspense novel, "The Lost Years", was published by Simon & Schuster in April 2012. She is an active member of Literacy Volunteers. She is the author of thirty previous suspense novels, three short story collections, a historical novel, a memoir, and two children's books. She is coauthor with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, of five suspense novels. Two of her novels were made into feature films and many of her other works into TV films. Mary Higgins Clark is married to John Conheeney and they live in Saddle River, New Jersey.