Beth Atkinson-Quinton

really grateful to have spent most of september participating in the @nationalwritershouse writers space fellowship. i’ve been trying to hold onto that brain-fizzing-heart-sparking feeling it left me with. i largely feel like a hugeee imposter in writing spaces so it’s been very affirming to write, think, and gasbag with writers and artists while brains and work i deeply admire. i’m mostly writing and thinking about mothering (surprise surprise) and how it dissolves conventional markers of time/identity/expectation, how we perform and archive our lives in relation to others, and how mothering (particularly as a neurospicy parent) is a form of self-architecture: a continuous act of negotiation and reconstruction. and so I was really honoured that part of this work, my essay ‘raw flesh, weeping wound’, received a little nod from @kyd_magazine being highly commended for their non-fiction prize 💛

I’m so looking forward to hosting this conversation next month with @atongatem , @rtwa and @australianbirthstories , presented by @yarralibraries . Matrescence: What Makes A Mother? Fitzroy Town Hall Reading Room Wednesday February 4, 6.30pm -7.30pm What does it mean to become a mother? Matrescence—the epic, often invisible metamorphosis into motherhood—remains one of the most profound transitions in a woman’s life, yet it is still only beginning to be widely understood. In this intimate panel, artist Atong Atem, writer Rachel Ang, and author and host of Australian Birth Stories podcast Sophie Walker reflect on their journeys into motherhood. Moderated by broadcaster Beth Atkinson-Quinton, the conversation will explore how motherhood has reshaped their identities, bodies, and sense of place in the world. Expect raw honesty, deep insight, and a powerful conversation about the growing pains, revelations, and resilience that come with becoming a mother. Together, they explore how art and motherhood collide, coalesce, and carve new paths through the self. Matrescence artwork by Rachel Ang It’s free, just register via link in bio. Would love to see you there x

Last week I was interviewed by Sophie Walker for @australianbirthstories while baby Q was (mostly) asleep on my chest. It felt fitting to be reminiscing about birth in the very room where I laboured with both my babies, where I roared her out. Ofc birth is never without its surprises, and hers featured a digger truck excavating the nature strip right outside our lounge room window — not exactly the home birth playlist I had cued up!! I binged this pod when I was pregnant, so it feels special to add to the chorus of birthing people sharing how wild and amazing birth can be. And I know it will be a treasured keepsake for our little fam too.

Last month baby Quinn was born into Paddy’s arms on our lounge room floor. And once again time is rearranged — loose and soft like my deflated belly; an endless breath of sleep and waking, feeds and growing pains. I am all tender and raw on this side of the portal, some kind of puddle: leaky breasts, leaky eyes, leaky thoughts. In awe of these two tiny humans I am lucky enough to love in this lifetime.

pregnancy diaries round two: less time to imagine the remaking / more time tending to each ouchy with a kiss / gifting colourful band-aids like magic wands after tripping over toy cars / my attention splinters as I feel the weight of your cuddle on me while thinking of the you inside me — anxious about how to hold you both with just one body / my mum always said she had two hands — one for each of us — and I take comfort in that / one in, one out / trying to sustain it all while standing at the edge / sometime before the arrival of babychino (B’s nickname)

She’s here!! The Fitzroy Writers Festival is back for 2026, and it’s been such a joy to dream up the program for this small (but mighty!) festival. Here’s a little peek at what’s to come… incredibly excited for Leah’s opening address exploring the body as a site of knowledge, this excellent panel (biased!) on writing resistance, and a conversation on how AI is impacting our media landscape, plus book talks across the day with Tony Birch, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Jacinta Parsons and more. Full program in link in bio. It’s free, but bookings are essential. April 18 at Fitzroy Town Hall. Festival design by the incredible @selnea , and lots of hard work from the team @yarralibraries .

Still riding high from this conversation the other week. There was something special about hearing the coos and cries of little people in the room as we spoke about becoming mothers, that we were in chorus with the very bodies that remake us. Motherhood is so often framed as something instinctive, but it was affirming to be reminded that this transition is a liminal space, destabilising, expansive and generative all at once. It was an honour to sit alongside Atong Atem, Rachel Ang and Sophie Walker, three artists whose work I deeply admire, and hear their honesty, ambivalence, grief, humour, warmth and generosity about this seismic shift. We spoke about how motherhood collides with art, how it reorients us and our concepts of time and the body, and how the unfurling mostly happens in the darkness, in between sleep and crying babies and snoring partners.
 As Sophie writes, mothering is a learned skill. We often say it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a community to raise a mother. I walked away reminded how revitalising these spaces are, where parents and caregivers can unpick all these knots. This felt like just one small part of a million more conversations, but I’m so glad to have been part of it. Full convo is up on @yarralibraries YouTube, if you fancy it. Link in bio. x 📷 1 and 3 by @hilarywalkerfamily , 2 and 4 by Nick Hardi-Louey

Tonight’s conversation on #Matrescence with @atongatem @rtwa @australianbirthstories and @bethaq was brilliant and moving! Here are my #visualnotes #graphicrecording #livenotes #sketchnotes from the talk Hosted by @yarralibraries at Fitzroy Town Hall

more at home, by @jennifer___jones___ 💙

B oscillates between lifting up my top and laughing hysterically that’s there’s a baby in my belly, or, seriously and without question, giving my swollen tum a gentle kiss. And I mean, same.

a few more snaps at home by dear pal @jennifer___jones___ 🩵

happy belated 2nd birthday to my main hang 🥹 you have filled my life with so much juicy goodness, and i feel so grateful to be your mum — to be redirected towards play and joy, to learn from you. when i’m eating weetbix in the morning you say, ‘bernie try, yes?’ with a cheeky grin. whenever we’re out walking and you spot a flower, you excitedly say ‘dadda!’ and insist on picking it for him. when asked how old you are, you proudly hold up five fingers and say, ‘twooo.’ watching you move from determined bum-shuffler to finding your feet this year has been magic. your light-up gumboots are your most prized possession (thanks for the fab hand-me-downs, charlie). i never knew i could find so much wonder in sitting on the lounge room floor: the way you reverse-parallel park into my lap with a book, the way you sing ‘twinkle twinkle little star’, the way you bounce to music. i love that you ask to hold hands while falling asleep and that you insist I sing ‘she shells.’ how you sometimes sleep with your rubber duck, or a spoon. the way you use pasta sauce like hair gel. the way you run into my arms after time apart. I just think you’re a cool guy — a cheeky little bean with great comedic timing. i can’t wait for a lifetime of cuddles and jokes. i’ll always be your number one fan, B. xxx thanks to my dear friend @jennifer___jones___ for these special photos and for immortalising B’s mullet era.