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image of person or book cover 2775619436709684541.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon The Mother Wound single work   autobiography  
Alternative title: The Motherwound
Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 The Mother Wound
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

''I am from a family of strong women.'

'Amani Haydar suffered the unimaginable when she lost her mother in a brutal act of domestic violence perpetrated by her father. Five months pregnant at the time, her own perception of how she wanted to mother (and how she had mothered) was shaped by this devastating murder.

'After her mother's death, Amani began reassessing everything she knew of her parents' relationship. They had been so unhappy for so long - should she have known that it would end like this? A lawyer by profession, she also saw the holes in the justice system for addressing and combating emotional abuse and coercive control.

'Amani also had to reckon with the weight of familial and cultural context. Her parents were brought together in an arranged marriage, her mother thirteen years her father's junior. Her grandmother was brutally killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon, adding complex layers of intergenerational trauma.

'Writing with grace and beauty, Amani has drawn from this a story of female resilience and the role of motherhood in the home and in the world. In The Mother Wound, she uses her own strength to help other survivors find their voices.' (Publication summary)

Notes

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Macmillan Australia , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 2775619436709684541.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 352p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 29 June 2021
      ISBN: 9781760982454

Works about this Work

How Can Publishers Support the Authors of Trauma Memoirs, as They Unpack Their Pain for the Public? New Research Investigates Kylie Cardell , Christiana Harous , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 16 February 2023;
Amani Haydar : The Mother Wound Sanchana Venkatesh , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , March 2022;

— Review of The Mother Wound Amani Haydar , 2021 single work autobiography
'Last month Amani Haydar’s powerful memoir won the non-fiction prize at the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.' (Introduction)
Beyond the Headlines and Hashtags Zora Simic , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Inside Story , 13 August 2021;

— Review of The Mother Wound Amani Haydar , 2021 single work autobiography
' Amani Haydar illuminates kinship, migration and shattering loss'
Anne Brewster Reviews The Mother Wound by Amani Haydar Anne Brewster , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , December no. 27 2021;

— Review of The Mother Wound Amani Haydar , 2021 single work autobiography

'Amani Haydar’s powerful memoir takes its title from Dr Oscar Serrallach’s term ‘the mother wound’, which describes how ‘the relationship between mothers and daughters is affected by unhealed traumatic experiences passed down matriarchal lines’ (333). In her family, Haydar says, the wounds have been inflicted by male aggression, war and migration (329).'  (Introduction)

The White Gaze and Brown Rage in Australian Literature Daniel Nour , 2021 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2021; Meanjin , Summer vol. 80 no. 4 2021;

'It was at a March 2002 camp at the Sydney Academy of Sport and Health where I overheard Steve Jones, who was awarded dux that year, talking about my family.'  (Introduction)

Books Roundup : The Mother Wound, House of Kwa, She is Haunted, The Newcomer Ellen Cregan , Megan Cheong , Annie Zhang , Claire Sullivan , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , July 2021;

— Review of The Mother Wound Amani Haydar , 2021 single work autobiography ; House of Kwa Mimi Kwa , 2021 single work autobiography ; She Is Haunted Paige Clark , 2021 selected work short story ; The Newcomer Laura Woollett , 2021 single work novel
A Family Ripped Apart Paige Taylor , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 10 July 2021; (p. 14)

— Review of The Mother Wound Amani Haydar , 2021 single work autobiography
'Amani Haydar’s deeply personal account of her mother’s desperate attempt to escape a violent marriage is brave and powerful, writes Paige Taylor Growing up in western Sydney in the 1990s with her parents and her three siblings, Amani Haydar admired her father for his smarts and his work ethic. She and her dad would laugh and laugh together. She also says she went to bed some nights hearing her mum shout and cry in the background. It could be the beginning of a skilful escalation, if this was a crime novel.' (Introduction)
A Siphon for Fury Sarah Malik , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2021;

— Review of The Mother Wound Amani Haydar , 2021 single work autobiography
Anne Brewster Reviews The Mother Wound by Amani Haydar Anne Brewster , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , December no. 27 2021;

— Review of The Mother Wound Amani Haydar , 2021 single work autobiography

'Amani Haydar’s powerful memoir takes its title from Dr Oscar Serrallach’s term ‘the mother wound’, which describes how ‘the relationship between mothers and daughters is affected by unhealed traumatic experiences passed down matriarchal lines’ (333). In her family, Haydar says, the wounds have been inflicted by male aggression, war and migration (329).'  (Introduction)

Amani Haydar : The Mother Wound Sanchana Venkatesh , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , March 2022;

— Review of The Mother Wound Amani Haydar , 2021 single work autobiography
'Last month Amani Haydar’s powerful memoir won the non-fiction prize at the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.' (Introduction)
In 'The Mother Wound', Amani Haydar Comes to grips with the Insidiousness of Domestic Abuse Hayley Gleeson , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , June 2021;

'Amani Haydar should have been tucked up in bed that Monday night in March 2015, her arms wrapped protectively around her pregnant belly, her first baby. Instead, she found herself sitting in a dingy interview room at Kogarah police station, preparing to give a statement about why, just a few hours earlier, her father had killed his wife of 28 years and Haydar's mother, Salwa.' (Introduction)

y separately published work icon At Home with Amani Haydar Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2021 23449473 2021 single work podcast interview

'Amani Haydar is an artist, lawyer and advocate for women's health and safety. Her devastating and yet hopeful debut is The Mother Wound.

'Amani experienced the unimaginable when she lost her mother in a brutal act of domestic violence perpetrated by her father. Writing with grace and beauty in The Mother Wound, Amani shares the stories of her mother and grandmother to help other survivors find their voices.

'Amani was a finalist in the 2018 Archibald Prize, and she uses visual art and writing to explore the personal and political dimensions of abuse, loss, identity and resilience.' (Production introduction)

The White Gaze and Brown Rage in Australian Literature Daniel Nour , 2021 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2021; Meanjin , Summer vol. 80 no. 4 2021;

'It was at a March 2002 camp at the Sydney Academy of Sport and Health where I overheard Steve Jones, who was awarded dux that year, talking about my family.'  (Introduction)

How Can Publishers Support the Authors of Trauma Memoirs, as They Unpack Their Pain for the Public? New Research Investigates Kylie Cardell , Christiana Harous , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 16 February 2023;
Last amended 7 Dec 2021 10:07:09
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