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Mothertongues

2023 - Shortlisted

Shortlisted

Judges' Comments

Dovey and Bell’s Mothertongues is a truly innovative work. Co-authored by two mothers who meet at the school gates, the book embraces these two distinct authorial voices to produce a conversation in which the experience of modern motherhood emerges as a truncated, interrupted, manic, emotional rollercoaster of joys, pain, sorrows, worries and love. This dialogue emerges through a mixture of literary forms including poetry, lyrics, drama scripts, lists, letters, emails and SMS texts. There is even a QR code which takes the reader to audio recordings of the book’s beautiful lyrics set to original music by Keppie Coutts. The eclectic combination of forms reflects the sense of chaos early motherhood generates as the reader is pulled into a vortex of rapidly changing worlds and never-ending physical exhaustion. But it is also a rich commentary on the uncertainty and risk of all forms of creativity — the raw processes of creating text and creating children are revealed in unflinching, real-time entwined narratives. The accepted borders between different art forms are dismantled with wit, flair and energy. 

Mothertongues explores motherhood in all its gore and glory with the goal of singing the songs of all the mother-heroines whose epic voyages have passed largely unremarked in the classics. Dovey and Bell imagine this ‘everymother’ as a Homeric Odysseia who sets off for unknown shores to courageously battle the trials of parenting. It is funny, charming, gritty, and tells an undeniably powerful truth. Hamish Hamilton’s reputation for publishing innovative literary non-fiction is fully manifest in this book. It is a unique reading/listening experience that challenges readers to rethink how we create and consume cultural products. It also foregrounds new ways of telling stories that have long been regarded as too mundane to warrant the telling.