Hello, how are you? This is just a quick note to explain that if you’ve subscribed to my podcast feed via Apple Podcasts or Stitcher or any of the podcast platforms it might seem a bit busy today. That’s because all this week I’m sharing content from Fertility Fest 2018
This UK festival curated by Jessica Hepburn and Gabby Vautier ( who can you see grinning in slight exhausted madness with me below ) is something special and I hope you have some time to listen to some of the audio. I’ll be sharing my podcast showcase episode which is a montage of three of the days session as well as a bit from the scratch night before the three days of sessions with artists and expert discussions began.
Me, with Jessica and Gabby
There is a lot of information here and one thing I want you to take away from all of this, is that infertility can be something special, it can be something that makes you feel good. I know that sounds ridiculous considering what it means and the impact it has probably had on your life so far, but this festival felt good, it felt special. Yes it was intense but there was such warmth and friendship and humour within this space that I want you to feel it too. Below is an overview of the sessions I’ve shared today ( Mon 4th June 2018 ) and as I’ve said, there’s more to come. You will be able to see everything on the Fertility Fest website as well as hearing it on my feed, so just make sure you’ve subscribed.
BONUS EPISODE: FERTILITY FEST 2018 The Doctor in the Bedroom
Photographer Sophie Ingleby talks about her project – SEED – which documents the journey of the fertility patient. And Izzy Judd – author of the best-selling memoir Dare To Dream – will uncover how it feels when you struggle to conceive and your fairytale life starts to fall apart.
The artists were joined on stage by Dr Jane Stewart Head of the Newcastle Fertility Centre and Chair of the British Fertility Society and Dr James Nicopoullos Senior Consultant at Lister Fertility Clinic. They’ll be discussing what it feels like on the other side too – i.e. to be that doctor in the bedroom! Chaired by Sophie Sulehria
To hear all the sessions audio visit the Fertility Fest website
BONUS EPISODE: FERTILITY FEST 2018 When ART doesn’t work
Two artists talk about how it feels when ART (assisted reproductive technology) doesn’t work. Poet Julia Copus will be performing her poetry cycle Ghost Lineswhich was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and Bob Strawbridge performs his original song “Never alone”
The artists were joined on stage for a discussion with Jacky Boivin, Professor of Health Psychology at the Cardiff University of School of Psychology and Anthony Ryb, accredited fertility counsellor with the London Women’s Clinic. Chaired by Sheridan Voysey
To hear all the sessions audio visit the Fertility Fest website
BONUS EPISODE: FERTILITY FEST 2018 What comes first the career of the egg
Go to university. Get on the career ladder. Kiss a few frogs before finding your prince (or princess). But what does this mean for your eggs? How is it possible for a woman to have children these days at the biologically optimum age of around twenty five if you’ve got to do all those other things first? And what about the fact that these days many young people can’t even afford to leave home in their twenties, let alone get on the property ladder and think about settling down and starting a family?
White Slate Theatre’s play Re:Production explores this very modern dilemma and Diane Chandler’s novel Moondance charts the physical and emotional strain of IVF on a career driven couple who leave it very late to try for a baby. The artists were joined on stage for a discussion with Joyce Harper, Professor of Human Genetics and Embryology at the Institute for Women’s Health University College London, and Shaun Rogers, Senior Embryologist and Laboratory Manager at Gennet City Fertility. Chaired by the Wellcome Trust’s Farrah Nazir.
To hear all the sessions audio visit the Fertility Fest website
BONUS EPISODE: FERTILITY FEST 2018 The M Word: Miscarriage Not Motherhood
Award-winning visual artists Fox Foster and Tabitha Moses will explore how that very word has influenced their creative practice. Tabitha who won the Liverpool Art Prize in 2013 for her work based on her experience of infertility and assisted conception will be sharing the development of her new project On Food and Longing: responses to miscarriage and Foz will be talking about Labour of Love, his body of artwork that celebrates the lives of his three children lost through miscarriage which has fuelled his determination to challenge the perception that miscarriage happens only to women.
The artists were joined on stage by Professor Simon Fishel, Founder and President of Care Fertility Group and Professor Lesley Regan, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists – two of the world’s leading voices on fertility and miscarriage. Chaired by Kate Brian.
To hear all the sessions audio visit the Fertility Fest website
BONUS EPISODE: FERTILITY FEST 2018 Does Motherhood make you happy?
Jessica Hepburn, Fertility Fest Founder and author of The Pursuit of Motherhood, will be talking about her new book, 21 Miles: Swimming in search of the meaning of motherhood– the story of one woman who ate 21 meals with 21 women and then swam 21 miles to find out the answer to the question: does motherhood make you happy? After a decade of failed fertility treatment must she continue to look for a route to parenthood or can you have a fulfilling life without the children you’ve always longed for?
She was joined on stage for this discussion by her Co-director of Fertility Fest Gabby Vautier – mum of IVF twins – Yvonne John a leading voice on the experience of childlessness by women of colour, and Sue Macmillan the Chief Operating Officer at Mumsnet. Chaired by Kate Brian Women’s Voices Lead at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
To hear all the sessions audio visit the Fertility Fest website
