'The Whole Intimate
Mess: Motherhood, Politics, and Women's Writing' - A memoir by
Holly Walker
I
began to pull the threads of my experience back together.
Instead of divergent stories about public failure, private
torment, and postnatal distress, I started telling myself a
united story: the truth, or as close as I could get to it.
Holly Walker was one of New
Zealand’s youngest members of parliament, elected as a Green
Party list MP in 2011. In 2014 she stood down and withdrew from
the list, citing family reasons.
The
Whole Intimate Mess is the story of that journey.
In this deeply personal and honest memoir, Holly Walker
tells the story of her experiences in parliament, before and
after having her first child. She explains how motherhood
intervened in her career and how she stepped down to take better
care of herself and her family. She also describes the solace
and solidarity that she found in the writings of women.
This short book makes a passionate case for the role of
literature in political change and personal resilience, and
for the importance of women’s voices in the public sphere.
About
the author
Holly Walker is a writer,
reviewer and children's advocate based in Lower Hutt. From 2011 -
2014 she was a Member of Parliament for the Green Party and has
previously worked as a public servant, political advisor, and
journalist. She holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the
University of Oxford undertaken on a Rhodes Scholarship. She is a
regular contributor to The Spinoff, where she co-hosts a monthly
parenting podcast, and her essays and interviews have been
published by The Wireless, Sunday magazine, and in two recent
books. She currently works as a Principal Advisor at the Office
of the Children's Commissioner. Holly lives in Petone with her
partner and three-year-old daughter and is expecting her second
child later in 2017.
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