Listen Journal – Arc 01: On Motherhood

Listen Journal is an independent magazine spotlighting underrepresented voices—particularly women of colour—through thoughtful essays, personal narratives, and culturally reflective storytelling.

Welcome to the first issue of Listen Journal.

“On Motherhood” gathers the voices and lived experiences of women of colour as they navigate one of the most layered and transformative human journeys. 

Through long form essays, “In Conversation With” and poetry from writers across the global majority, this issue holds space for the nuances and honest realities often erased from mainstream narratives.

Inside, you’ll find writing on fertility, ageing, grief in its many forms, disability, queerness, inheritance, community care, single motherhood, mental health, and the everyday tension between joy and overwhelm. These stories move across hospitals, kitchens, ancestral altars, childhood bedrooms and quiet moments of reckoning.