If you love fiction, are interested in fostering other writers through the editing and submission process, and would like a ready-made network of other mama writers to enhance your own creative endeav...

Literary Mama

She had to wrestle the door closed, watching desperately for small fingers scrabbling in the diminishing gap and only pulling hard once she was sure it was clear. Then she engaged the slide lock at th...

Kimberly was pleased when she caught her mother, Professor, going through her closet from floor to ceiling. She jotted the specifics of each item in one of her laboratory notebooks now labeled Creativ...

Literary Mama

Erin was erratic about gynecological appointments until the day of all the blood. Searching futilely for heavy pads in the box of uncategorized toiletries—mysterious cream, that pill in the plastic wi...

It is late summer in Virginia, and the night is full of cicadas—the breeze drifting through the windows as Beth paces in her bedroom, waiting for her son’s screams to start. Her beautiful sun-streaked...

Baby, don’t you know, on cold mornings when I kiss your warm cheek and forehead, the fine hairs there the same as they always were, and slip your knee socks over your feet and pull you out of bed to g...

The staff of Literary Mama is delighted to share our nominations for the Pushcart Prize. Ficton: "Your Sixty Seconds" by Susan Perabo and "Fighting Wind" by Sage Tyrtle Nonfiction: "Slicing Pe...

It’s the bottom of the sixth inning and I’m sweating in my beach chair. My son’s team is losing, and I’m cursing the obnoxious opposing team with their excitable coaches in tight pants. Calm down,...

It’s the bottom of the sixth inning and I’m sweating in my beach chair. My son’s team is losing, and I’m cursing the obnoxious opposing team with their excitable coaches in tight pants. Calm down,...

Literary Mama

Mom married Hurricane Gerald because he was strong. Passionate. Because he was too big for the car, too big for the house, too big for an office job. Mom married Hurricane Gerald because she loved the...

It was five months into her pregnancy when her doctor presented her with an ultrasound image that revealed a complex story. A competition between her fetus and a rapidly growing tumor right next to hi...

Mom married Hurricane Gerald because he was strong. Passionate. Because he was too big for the car, too big for the house, too big for an office job. Mom married Hurricane Gerald because she loved the...

Summer ends abruptly. The tarns have finally warmed. Ari and I laze in the backyard beneath the protracted sunlight, relishing the bite in the air, the plump tomatoes tumbling off the vine. An open bo...

Summer ends abruptly. The tarns have finally warmed. Ari and I laze in the backyard beneath the protracted sunlight, relishing the bite in the air, the plump tomatoes tumbling off the vine. An open bo...

When the large poodle tried to lick her son’s hand, he cried, “It’s warm! Mama! Dog breath is warm! Not cold like yours!” Mama paused. Her son thought she was frozen inside. She smiled awkwardly at...

Literary Mama