We are taught that motherhood is something we should aspire to, and this fantasy can dominate the whole of our lives. Yet no one can prepare you for the loss of a child, nor what to do when that child’s life is in jeopardy, nor when motherhood isn’t forthcoming. In her new book, Mother Ship, Betty Trask Award-winning novelist Francesca Segal shares the intimate few months of the premature birth of her twins. Psychotherapist Julia Bueno explores miscarriage in her new book The Brink of Being. They talk to Henny Beaumont, whose graphic novel Hole in the Heart tells about the unexpected arrival of a child with Down’s Syndrome. They explore the unexpected sides of what it is to be – or not – a mother.

Book tickets to Motherhood via the Stoke Newington Literary Festival website. The event is at 1pm on Saturday 8th June at the Old Church in Stoke Newington.

Henny Beaumont is a graphic novelist, freelance illustrator and political cartoonist. Her first graphic novel Hole in the Heart was shortlisted for Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition and included by Mumsnet in a list of top ten books about motherhood of all time. Her political cartoons and animations have appeared in The Canary and The Morning Star as well many as other publications. She recently illustrated a children’s book about Lady Hale with Afua Hirsch due out in Oct 2019. She received an Arts Council award for her second graphic novel about poetry and was long listed for the Women Poets’ Prize.

Henny is a director and founder of Hackney Shorts film festival and animation judge. She has an MA in Fine Art Printmaking from Camberwell College of Arts and an MA supervisor at Kingston University. She is the one and only artist-in-residence at Stoke Newington Literary Festival and will be drawing Nigella Lawson at the Town Hall event on Saturday at 4pm.  Buy tickets for the entire three day festival on their website HERE.