Joanna Wolfarth on non-fiction and writing intimate cultural history

Joanna Wolfarth is a cultural historian with a PhD in Southeast Asian art history. Her first book Milk: An intimate history of breastfeeding is a fascinating look at the social, historical and cultural contexts for this very personal of experiences, through art, philosophy, folk wisdom and interviews.

Joanna talks about how needing to make sense of the experience of new motherhood, led to a furious dive into the research between feeds and in tiny snatches of time when her baby slept, how motherhood made her fearless when it came to writing and non-fiction that seeks to ask questions, rather than provide all of the answers.

Links

Milk: An intimate history of breastfeeding

Joanna Wolfarth on Instagram @joanna_wolfarth

Penny on Instagram @pennywincer

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