Lucy Jones in conversation: Matrescence - Basingstoke Discovery Centre - Saturday 29th June 2024

Lucy Jones in conversation: Matrescence

Basingstoke Discovery Centre

Saturday 29th June 2024

2.00pm

Acclaimed journalist and author Lucy Jones in conversation with Stacy Hart about her book Matrescence, a radical new examination of the transition into motherhood and how it affects the mind, brain and body. Followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Matrescence:

During pregnancy, childbirth, and early motherhood, women undergo a far-reaching physiological, psychological and social metamorphosis.

There is no other time in a human's life course that entails such dramatic change-other than adolescence. And yet this life-altering transition has been sorely neglected by science, medicine and philosophy. Its seismic effects go largely unrepresented across literature and the arts. Speaking about motherhood as anything other than a pastel-hued dream remains, for the most part, taboo.

In this ground-breaking, deeply personal investigation, Lucy Jones brings to light the emerging concept of 'matrescence'. Here is an urgent examination of the modern institution of motherhood, which seeks to unshackle all parents from oppressive social norms. As it deepens our understanding of matrescence, it raises vital questions about motherhood and femininity; interdependence and individual identity; as well as about our relationships with each other and the living world.

*A New Statesman and Daily Mail BOOK OF THE YEAR*

*Longlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction*

'The best book I've ever read about motherhood' Jude Rogers, Observer

'I kept scribbling in the margins: 'We need to know this stuff!'' Joanna Pocock, Spectator

Price: £3.00 per person