This Mama Is Lit!

Amanda Fields and Holly Rizzuto Palker chat with Leila Farjami, author of Daughter of Salt, about breaking the chain of familial obligations and healing from being a child of war. Daughter of Salt is a poetry collection focused on a speaker who fiercely engages with and questions her mother, her father, ancestors, and herself. Across the poems, patriarchy, intergenerational trauma, and displacement swirl together, colored by the frustration at being expected to hold it all together for everyone else; as Farjami writes, “A daughter made of salt-a dead sea to keep bodies afloat.” Throughout, the daughter vacillates between rebellion, acceptance, and empathy, searching for healing from a childhood marked by war and violence. This collection moves the reader into remembrance and healing; the preservation and renewal of the self that occurs when grace is given to others and ourselves, when we allow ourselves to keep close the memories we share with those we have lost, and use them to build a foundation for a better future. Leila Farjami is an Iranian-American poet and trauma-focused psychotherapist. Her debut, Daughter of Salt, received the Editors’ Selection for Poetry by Trio House Press. Recipient of a Pushcart Prize, The Iowa Review Award in Poetry, the Cincinnati Review’s Robert and Adele Schiff Award, and a 2025 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship, her poems appear in Ploughshares, AGNI, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles. Links: Website Pre-order Daughter of Salt Leila Farjami Instagram This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit literarymama.substack.com

Amanda Fields and Holly Rizzuto Palker chat with Chital Mehta, author of Have You Seen Romit?, about raising children across cultures, stretching marital boundaries, and the weight of writing rejection. When her adopted son disappears into the forests of southern India, Usha defies her husband, leaves the rest of her family, and goes to find him—alone. Have You Seen Romit? is the story of a middle-aged Indian woman who sets out to find her son and discovers, in the search, the full force of who she is. Chital Mehta is a South Asian writer whose stories center on motherhood, family dynamics, and immigration. Her short stories have appeared in The Pinch, Oyez Review, SLAB Magazine, and elsewhere. Her novel, Have You Seen Romit?, was the winner of the 2025 James Alan McPherson Prize for the Novel, judged by R. O. Kwon. She holds an MFA from Lindenwood University and lives in Delaware with her husband and children. Links: Book Substack Instagram Website This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit literarymama.substack.com

Amanda Fields and Caroline Grant chat with Jackie Hoermann-Elliott and Jenna Morton-Aiken, co-editors of the anthology Parenting While PhDing, about raising children in a restrictive academic system. This episode includes guest co-host, Caroline Grant. Grant served on the editorial board of Literary Mama for 10 years, including 5 as editor-in-chief, and is the author of the forthcoming essay collection Make Yourself Useful: remembering a life in essential tools and unexpected foods. Grant has co-edited two anthologies: Mama, PhD and The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage. She is co-director of the Sustainable Arts Foundation (SAF), which worked for nearly 15 years to support writers and artists with children. SAF was recently sunsetted, returning its funds to Indigenous communities. Grant lives in San Francisco with her family. Jackie Hoermann-Elliott and Jenna Morton-Aiken are the co-editors of the anthology Parenting While PhDing: Surviving and Improving the Working Conditions of Graduate Student Parents. Featuring contributions from graduate students about raising children, the anthology includes personal stories and advice for student parents. The book also offers tips for program administrators about creating more inclusive, family-friendly environments for students. Hoermann-Elliott is an associate professor of English at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, where she also serves as the co-director of the university’s first-year experience program. She is deeply passionate about supporting student parents and foster-care alumni. She’s also a mom of four kids, ages three to fifteen. Morton-Aiken is the senior associate director of writing and English language support at Brown University’s Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, where she also teaches in the English department. She began teaching writing because she believed in the power of language to make the world a better place, a goal she’s still working toward as she also completes a leadership coaching certification. She’s devoted to facilitating the growth of humans, and relies on good books, Korean dramas, and snuggling with her husband, two cats, and two children to keep her going. Links: Parenting While PhDing: Surviving and Improving the Working Conditions of Graduate Student Parents Jackie Hoermann-Elliott Instagram Website Jenna Morton-Aiken X Brown University Caroline Grant Website Instagram Facebook Substack This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit literarymama.substack.com

Amanda Fields and Tiffanie Drayton chat with Shasta Grant, author of When We Were Feral, about absent mothers, growing up in the ’90s, and raising a teenage son in today’s patriarchal landscape. When We Were Feral is a coming-of-age story set in the early 1990s. The novel is about friendship and the terrain between girlhood and adulthood. At the center is thirteen-year-old Maggie, who lives in a trailer on the edge of a rural New Hampshire town and is living with the grief of her mother’s disappearance. Maggie finds comfort with her best friend Sarah’s seemingly perfect family, and they’re soon joined by Erin, who has lost both her sister and mother. Compelled by a need to understand what makes mothers vanish, Maggie convinces her friends to search for answers. Shasta Grant grew up in New Hampshire and lives in Indianapolis. An Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow, Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest winner, and recipient of writing residencies from Hedgebrook and The Kerouac Project, she holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of Gather Us Up and Bring Us Home, and her stories and essays have appeared in cream city review, Epiphany, wigleaf, and elsewhere. Links Buy When We Were Feral Website Instagram This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit literarymama.substack.com

Tiffanie Drayton and Amanda Fields chat with Rebecca Morrison, author of The Blue Dress, about adapting her memoir into a young adult novel, opening dialogue for teens to talk about disordered eating, and representing Iranian culture in the media. The Blue Dress is based on Rebecca Morrison’s childhood as an Iranian immigrant trying to fit into her homeland and conform to her family’s expectations of beauty. Morrison is a writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Newsweek, The Independent, and HuffPost. After spending nearly three decades practicing law, she left the profession in 2020 to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a writer. Her debut novel, The Blue Dress, published in March 2026, draws on her experiences growing up as an Iranian immigrant navigating the competing expectations of her family and her American homeland. In addition to writing The Blue Dress, Morrison has also hosted The Second Half, a podcast exploring the struggles, heartbreaks, reinventions, and joys that shape the later chapters of life. Links: Order The Blue Dress Website Instagram Facebook X YouTube TikTok Substack This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit literarymama.substack.com