ISsUE 4 - Spring/Summer 2023

In Mother Tongue issue four, we analyze dreams (about sexy lions) with Bat For Lashes, and talk Real Housewives and real smiles with Jenna Lyons. We make sense of Whitney Houston with Amil Niazi and tend to songbirds of a different kind with artist Sheida Soleimani. We hit the road in Texas, as Dina Gachman takes us on a winding tale of revenge without remorse, and build a house for the future with Christene Barberich. Photographer Martina Zanin asks us to consider what happens when feline fixations go too far, and illustrator Rachel Deutsch conjures the everyday horror of our children’s unmeetable expectations. Sophie Ebrard contemplates sex and intimacy after kids, author Angela Garbes bridges the mother-daughter divide, and Ruby Warrington and Pooja Lakshmin discuss whether having children even makes sense anymore? And much, more more, including contributions by Kholood Eid, Victoria Hely-Hutchinson, Sarah Hoover, Annie Armstrong Miyao, Bonnie Morrison, Rachel Sperry, Shana Trajanoska, Taravat Talepasand, Ruth van Beek,​​ Anaïs Wade, Han Wang, Diana Weymar, Amber Winick, Lauren Withrow, LaTonya Yvette and Alex Zafiris.

ISsUE 5 - FALL/WINTER 2023-2024

In Issue 5 we talk about The End—of marriage, of life, of the world as we know it. We get nostalgic about the sublime weirdness of Anne Geddes and make a list of virgin births (besides the obvious). We navigate the unchartered territory of embryo adoption and find meaning in fermented fruit. 

Mira Jacob considers the “Margaret Thatchers” of her family, while poet Yrsa Daley Ward has had enough of Malcolm Gladwell. Writer Molly Prentiss and photographer Frances Tulk-Hart remind us that we must always notice the minutiae and marvel, and artist Andi Galdi Vinko documents the climate crisis through the eyes of our children. There’s also talk of phantom limbs, and a trip to Copenhagen—where Hillary Kelly trades secrets with Danish author Olga Ravn. And before we’re through, we laugh about schizophrenia with comedian Atsuko Okatsuka; we get existential about chocolate with Priyanka Mattoo; and we think about planting roots with Kailea Loften, who runs away and goes home, all at the same time.

ISsUE 6 - SPRING/SUMMER 2024

In this issue we discuss the coexistence of seemingly incompatible things—humor and trauma with filmmaker Lulu Wang and author Priyanka Mattoo; rejecting pregnancy and embracing motherhood with writer Samantha Mann, and attempting to solve the mysteries of self with no real clues to go on with poet Maggie Smith. We revel in the confidence of the Real Housewives with illustrator Jess Rotter and get weird about candidates’ wives with Sarah Hutto; and we talk empathy and non-binary thinking in a post-October 7th reality withMoh Mahdara, Rabbi Sharon Brous and BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors. We forgo categorization with artist Hayv Kahraman; rally for sisterhood with Salamishah and Scheherazade Tillet; and look to the right and left with Shannon Watts. We try on chore coats and grief with Jessie Gaynor; resist hoarding with Victoria Hely Hutchinson; examine the symmetry of our breasts with Caitlin Scholl; and last, but quite obviously not least: We get lusty about midlife with our cover star Miranda July, in a sizzling profile written by Hillary Kelly. Oh, you thought we were done? This issue also features work and words by Michelle Arcila, Lesly Deschler Canossi, Paula Codoner, Alex Free, Alma Haser, Lucy Jones, Nanse Kawashima, Emma Larsson, Zoe Lescaze, Nadiya Nacorda, Maggie Shannon, Ashley Simpo, Akilah Townsend and Anaïs Wade.

ISSUE 7 - Fall/Winter 2024/2025

In this issue we confront the before, the after and the in between; the surreal confusion of the present, the friendly ghosts of the past and the utter unknown of the near future. We reminisce about arty orgies with Hillary Kelly and we follow the signs to a Spiritualist epicenter on an occult road trip with Janet Manley. Nightbitch author Rachel Yoder thinks about time: its passing, its limitations, its inevitability; and Suleika Jaouad and her mother, Anne Francey, dive headfirst into mortality, maternity, and the perils of doing drugs (not the fun ones) in the bathroom. Art critic Jori Finkel offers notes on cultivating an out of body perspective—with help from land art icon Isabel Albuquerque—and Jennifer Romolini lets us in on her double life (and why solo travel makes her horny). Rachel Sklar profiles the inexhaustible Jessica Valenti, whose pro-choice crusade aims to save America from itself. And we head to DC before the election to find humanity in the digital abyss with counterrorism expert and Moonshot founder Vidhya Ramalingam. If that wasn't enough, we also contemplate witches, jazzercise and going gray; periods, sacrificial goats and Man Ray, and finally: explore the extremely sapphic undertones of American Girl dolls. (Once you see it, it’s impossible to unsee!)

This issue also features work and words by: Ana Maria Caballero, Rachel Cope, Dione Davis, Amie Dicke, Cynthia Edorh, Charlie Engman, Hannah Felt Garner, Gem Fletcher, Maria-Ines Gul, Sarah Hahn, Laura McLaws Helms, Victoria Hely-Hutchinson, Thessaly LaForce, Nicole Graev Lipson, Suchitra Mattai, Hannah Michelle Provisor, Joanna Rakoff, Isabel Reitemeyer, Naila Ruechel, Vanessa Saba, Katherine Sheehan, Sunny Shokrae, Rebecca Storm and Fiorella Valdesolo. 

ABOUT

Mother Tongue is a biannual print magazine that interrogates (and celebrates) modern motherhood through inclusive stories about art, sex, pop culture, politics, food and a few things in between.

It’s not about kids or how to parent them: it’s about the nuanced lives we are living—as mothers, and much more.

The magazine is edited by co-founders Melissa Goldstein and Natalia Rachlin and designed by creative director Vanessa Saba.