Imperfect Bodies with Ali Isaac

About this event

“My daughter allowed me to escape from societal norms and rethink them.”

In this powerful literary memoir, Ali shares her journey as a mother of a girl
with a rare genetic disease. Exploring social and political definitions of normality, Ali
reflects on motherhood, identity, the female body, the able and dis-abled body. This
memoir also delves into the experience of pregnancy, and the ways in which the female
body becomes a public topic of discussion. The limits of child care policies are also
scrutinized in this impressive journey. Central to the narrative are the following
questions: is my body imperfect for conceiving a baby with a genetic disorder? Is my
daughter’s body imperfect?

For readers of Claire Kilroy, Anne Enright, Deborah Levy.

Ali Isaac lives in Ireland with her husband, two sons, and daughter, Carys. In 2020, she was awarded a mentorship for Imperfect Bodies with author Sara Baume by Words Ireland in conjunction with the Arts Council of Ireland. She was also selected for the Penguin Write Now Program 2020. In 2021, she was the
recipient of a Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. Ali has been published in literary journals The Stinging Fly, Sonder, Paper Lanterns, and Catatonic Daughters.