Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
390 followers
1K following
16 posts
Chicago-based writer. Work in The Iowa Review, Denver Quarterly, Mississippi Review, and elsewhere. Hybrid memoir forthcoming from Barrelhouse Books.
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Reposted by Erica Stern
![Giving birth a second time (and, years later, a third), didn’t take away any of my love for my oldest son. In fact, it allowed me to separate him from the experience of his birth. I could leave that trauma, or at least the power it wielded over me, behind. It had taken another round to figure out what should have been obvious: the child was not the birth. I hugged them close—children who had arrived in different ways, but who were both very much mine.
[Family photo below]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qcgmjzw4ty77w5zk46mvg25x/bafkreiee6owdphjrzqgktkvjuk7qv4lyr4vn3trweoqa6vk437vlytgada@jpeg)
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Jul 23
"Like Erica Stern, I had idealized motherhood through tender diaper commercials and anodyne magazines..." from Leslie Lindsay's review of Frontier: A Memoir & A Ghost Story. Read it here:
https://hippocampusmagazine.com/2025/07/review-frontier-a-memoir-a-ghost-story-by-erica-stern/
https://hippocampusmagazine.com/2025/07/review-frontier-a-memoir-a-ghost-story-by-erica-stern/
REVIEW: Frontier: A Memoir & a Ghost Story by Erica Stern | Hippocampus Magazine
"Frontier: A Memoir & A Ghost Story [by Erica Stern] seamlessly blend[s] fiction with memoir with research in the most artful and imaginative manner." - Leslie Lindsay
hippocampusmagazine.com
Reposted by Erica Stern
Reposted by Erica Stern
"No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker. And in some cases, shylocks and bad people."
Reposted by Erica Stern
Trump administration withholds over $6 billion for after-school, summer programs—and more
#Trump
#Trump
Trump administration withholds over $6 billion for after-school, summer programs—and more
Day camp providers and schools are warning that a Trump administration funding freeze could wreck summer for low-income American families and wipe out some after-school programming next year.
The ...
www.dailykos.com
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Jul 2
Reposted by Erica Stern
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Jun 19
Here's another great excerpt of FRONTIER by @ericarstern.bsky.social, this time in @thesunmagazine.bsky.social
www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/287...
www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/287...
Inside the Whale
Excerpted from Frontier: A Memoir and a Ghost Story by Erica Stern. Available via Barrel House. Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved.
www.thesunmagazine.org
Reposted by Erica Stern
Reposted by Erica Stern
Barrelhouse
@barrelhouse.bsky.social
· Jun 10
“Here is What I Know: A Baby is Born.” On the Wild West of Childbirth.
Ten centimeters, Dr. G. announces triumphantly. She’s back in the room. She means I’m fully dilated, that my body has released enough oxytocin to cause my uterus to shudder and squeeze my baby’s he…
lithub.com
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Jun 9
@ericarstern.bsky.social considers a traumatic birth and the many that came before: “Was there something she was afraid of, a contaminant that might transfer from me to her if she were to look at me directly?”
“Here is What I Know: A Baby is Born.” On the Wild West of Childbirth.
Ten centimeters, Dr. G. announces triumphantly. She’s back in the room. She means I’m fully dilated, that my body has released enough oxytocin to cause my uterus to shudder and squeeze my baby’s he…
buff.ly
Reposted by Erica Stern
Lit Hub
@literaryhub.bsky.social
· Jun 9
“Here is What I Know: A Baby is Born.” On the Wild West of Childbirth.
Ten centimeters, Dr. G. announces triumphantly. She’s back in the room. She means I’m fully dilated, that my body has released enough oxytocin to cause my uterus to shudder and squeeze my baby’s he…
buff.ly
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Jun 5
Frontier: A Memoir and a Ghost Story, by Erica Stern — Barrelhouse
A genre-bending expedition into the treacherous, untamed frontier of childbirth. As she prepared to give birth to her first child, Erica Stern envisioned an idyllic experience. But when unexpected co...
www.barrelhousemag.com
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Jun 4
Happy pub day @ericarstern.bsky.social! FRONTIER is so unique, beautiful, and chilling. So thrilled this book is officially in the world!
"We need a new narrative to replace the What to Expect version of childbirth. We need a messier narrative." @rachellayown.bsky.social's interview with @ericarstern.bsky.social on her book "Frontier: a memoir & a ghost story" (@barrelhouse.bsky.social) is out now.
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/06/03/o...
chireviewofbooks.com/2025/06/03/o...
Reposted by Erica Stern
Reposted by Erica Stern
Reposted by Erica Stern
Reposted by Erica Stern
Barrelhouse
@barrelhouse.bsky.social
· Apr 3
There are a lot of great books coming this spring! I wrote a roundup of 34 of them for the Orange County Register: www.ocregister.com/2025/04/02/3...
34 new books in our spring 2025 preview to add to your TBR pile
Fiction, nonfiction, poetry and more coming to your local independent bookshops in the next three months.
www.ocregister.com
Reposted by Erica Stern
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Mar 24
Reposted by Erica Stern
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Mar 14
Erica Stern
@ericarstern.bsky.social
· Mar 14