Madison, Wisc. – Oct. 27, 2023 – Local poet and Professor of English at UW-Madison Erika Meitner and Assistant Professor of English at UW-Milwaukee Maria Novotny will be reading and signing copies of the new book, Infertilities, A Curation, published by Wayne State University Press at A Room of One’s Own on Monday, November 6, 2023 from 6:00-7:00pm. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
Through personal narrative, poetry, and visual art, stories of infertility that are far more nuanced than statistics, insurance diagnostic codes, and treatment plans, are brought to light. In Wisconsin, over 172,000 people in Wisconsin are living with infertility and many without access to fertility coverage. Individuals are infertile for a host of reasons: injury, wounds from combat, cancer, and other reproductive diseases like endometriosis. Infertility also impacts LGBTQ+ and single persons who want to create a family. Despite infertility’s wide impact on Wisconsinites, insurance coverage for infertility-related treatments remains sparse as Wisconsin is not a state mandating coverage.
Infertilities, A Curation highlights the varied perspectives of individuals who have lived with infertility and include perspectives from women, men, and nonbinary and transgender individuals, as well as heterosexual couples, single parents by choice, and lesbian and queer-identified couples. This collection intentionally makes visible the emotional depths of infertility. From diagnosis and treatment, adoption, or living childfree, to miscarriage and pregnancy loss, editors, writers, and artists explore the range of experiences with infertility and their psychological, physical, and emotional impacts in all aspects of life. This carefully curated anthology reveals that infertility cannot be reduced to a singular narrative; instead, it is an assemblage of multiple embodied moments. Whether a reader comes to this book as someone personally affected by infertility or someone who wants to learn more about the experiences of individuals facing reproductive loss, Infertilities, A Curation invites readers to consider how creative practices such as art and writing can aid in efforts to heal individual traumas and more broadly as means of advocacy.
