Motherhood & Creativity: The Divided Heart - take 2!

It's landed! The new edition of Motherhood & Creativity: The Divided Heart will be in bookshops in late March/April, and I can now finally tell you that new interviewees include Claudia Karvan, Holly Throsby, Del Kathryn Barton, Cate Kennedy, Pip Lincolne and more...

It also features a heartfelt and beautifully written Prelude from Clare Bowditch that makes me cry every time I read it.

Because it's Women's Day, I felt especially justified today in leaving my partner at home with the kids, and taking off down the street for a coffee. Blessedly alone (for once).

I grabbed the cafe's copy of Sunday Life (which my partner dubs Sunday Wife) and flicked through today's slightly more nourishing fare than the usual array of unaffordable fashion, unattainable beauty, unfeasible lifestyles and unrealistic diets. They did chuck in a story about Paris Hilton (apparently "not half as dumb as she is painted"), just to avoid getting too wholesome.

But they redeemed themselves -- and did Women's Day proper justice -- with this week's "What I Know About Men" column, featuring the formidable Chrissie Hynde.

Hynde has two children: Natalie (to Ray Davies of the Kinks) and Yasmin (to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds). Hynde didn't tour for eight years as she was raising her daughters on her own "with great difficulty", she says.

I didn't have a man waiting at home to mind the kids while I went out on tour. That wasn't an option for me. I have always been on my own and never relied on a guy. A woman has a great responsibility for her children and I had to stop everything. The upside is that I got to be with my kids every day, so I am clearly the winner.

It's a great summary of the sentiments shared by so many of the artists in my book: lamenting the creative sacrifices they've made as a mother, while at the same time relishing the time spent with their children. If I ever manage to compile an international edition of Creativity & Motherhood, Hynde will be on my wish-list of interviews! Who else? You tell me!

In the meantime, I'm just so pleased to have a revised edition of The Divided Heart in print. I hope it will serve as an addition to, and not a replacement for, the original (which remains so dear to my heart). I will keep you posted here about related events, including the book launch, and sessions at the Sydney, Melbourne and Williamstown Writers Festivals. I will also be selling copies from this here blog.

I salute you, sisters! Happy International Women's Day!