Book Talk and Workshop with Mia Malhotra
Mothersalt, a book reading
Saturday, November 15, 1 pm
Mothersalt (May 2025, Alice James Books) is an embodied look at birth, motherhood, and child-rearing. With haunting precision, Mothersalt digs into the experience of pregnancy and early motherhood, where the self is split apart and stitched back together. Interspersed with tender addresses to a child in utero, Mothersalt recounts the fraught disorientation of giving birth in America, where birthing bodies are not always recognized as empowered agents of their own story.
Charting a struggle of failures and reversals to reclaim the experience of childbirth, Mothersalt asserts a powerful narrative of what is possible, not only in the birthing room, but in all forms of human relationships. At its heart, this is a book about resilience, healing, joy, and the sustaining life that emerges from practices of embodied care.
RSVP for this free event.
Hibiku Kotoba, a podcast series
Episode 2: Mia Ayumi Malhotra
On becoming a poet, Mia Ayumi Malhotra reflects on the challenges and joys of becoming an author. She found a deeper connection with her Nikkei roots while writing her latest release, Mothersalt. She reflects on pregnancy, childrearing, mothering, past and present ways we nurture and sustain ourselves. Mia shares her poem, “To My Many Mothers, Issei and Nisei” from her book, Isako, Isako.
Host: Kathleen Wong
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Mia Ayumi Malhotra is the author of Isako Isako, a California Book Award finalist and winner of the Alice James Award, Nautilus Gold Award for Poetry, National Indie Excellence Award, and Maine Literary Award. She is also the author of the chapbook Notes from the Birth Year. A Kundiman Fellow and a founding member of The Ruby SF, a gathering space for women and nonbinary artists, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Making Motherhood: a creative workshop
Saturday, November 15, 10 am- 12 pm
In this creative writing workshop, we will think about what it means to make art from life, drawing from family practices (gardening, mending, seamstressing, cooking, origami, ikebana, etc.) that have been handed down for generations by mothers and makers of every kind. Led by local poet Mia Ayumi Malhotra, we will reflect on these practices and respond through a series of written exercises inspired by the life and art of Ruth Asawa and The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon.
Come join us for a morning of making, remembrance, and—best of all—make new friends and memories in a warm, supportive circle of artist-makers. No previous writing or art experience needed; all are welcome at the table!
Sign up required. Limited space.