Selfhood is always transformed by motherhood (whether by love and hope, love and despair, or 3 a.m. sleep-training exhaustion). And motherhood, shaped by cultural expectations galore, is constantly reshaping around them. In this riveting, down-to-earth conversation, we'll explore the changes that happen to us—via the lenses of selfhood and sexuality, fertility and family—and the remakings we seek, in literature and life. Our panelists are New York Times best-selling author Domenica Ruta (With or Without You), whose new novel All The Mothers envisions amazing things that can manifest when single moms—with a shared baby-daddy and zero child support—form a Mommune. And debut memoirist Ruthie Ackerman, author of The Mother Code: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Myths That Shape Us, gives voice maternal ambivalence, desire, and infertility, and asks What if mothering can be a radical act too? Moderated by award-winning writer/editor and founder of Memoiring, Melisse Gelula.
Date
Jun 21, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Featuring
Domenica Ruta
Domenica Ruta is a New York Times bestselling author of the memoir With or Without You, the novel Last Day, lauded one of 100 Notable Books of the Year in 2019 by The New York Times Book Review, and the novel All the Mothers, out from Random House May 2025. Born and raised in Danvers, Massachusetts, she is a graduate of Oberlin College and holds an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. She currently teaches in the creative writing program at Sarah Lawrence College, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Cut, The American Scholar, Oprah online, and many others. She currently lives in New York City with her family.
Ruthie Ackerman
An award-winning journalist, Ruthie Ackerman’s writing has been published in Vogue, Glamour, O Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and more. Her Modern Love essay for The New York Times became the launching point for her memoir, The Mother Code: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Myths That Shape Us (Random House, May 2025). Ruthie launched The Ignite Writers Collective in 2019 and since then has become an in-demand book coach and developmental editor.
Melisse Gelula
Melisse Gelula is the founder of Memoiring, a book club and writing community that hosts notable memoirists for events and workshops, and the co-founder of pioneering media company Well+Good (successfully acquired in 2018). Her work has been featured in such outlets as The New York Times, Vogue, Electric Literature, and Grand Journal, as well as on Good Morning America and CBS This Morning. Melisse is currently writing a memoir about being raised by a child psychologist who starts to hear voices. She lives in the Western Catskills and works with writers one-on-one and in groups. You can follow Melisse at https://memoiring.substack.com/ and on Instagram @MelisseJoy and @Memoiring.
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