A huge congratulations to Jessica O’Dwyer, author of Mother Mother, for being a Distinguished Favorites for the 2021 Independent Press Award!
Contemporary art museum curator Julie Cowan achieves her dream of motherhood through adoption, but her life is far from perfect. Her pathologist husband, Mark, is distracted at work, while her hotshot new museum director boss doubts Julie’s curatorial chops. And Julie’s young son, Juan, may never recover from trauma inflicted by early life spent in a Guatemalan orphanage. At the same time, Juan’s birth mother, an indigenous Ixil Maya, navigates her own tumultuous path, beginning with surviving a horrific massacre. In this gripping tale told from alternating perspectives, both mothers must draw on fierce inner strength to reckon with their life circumstances, and life choices.
Jessica O’Dwyer is the adoptive mother to two teens born in Guatemala and author of Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir. Her essays have been published in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, and elsewhere. A former teacher of jazz dance and high school English, Jessica has also worked as a legal proofreader, magazine staffer, and art museum publicist. She earned an MFA in fiction writing from Antioch Los Angeles. Jessica grew up at the Jersey shore, the daughter of a high school shop teacher and Radio City Music Hall Rockette. She lives in California with her husband, son, and daughter. This is her first novel.
You can find more information about Dwyer’s winning on their website today!
https://www.independentpressaward.com/2021distinguishedfavorites