05/31/18
Dr. Amanda Fields, assistant professor of English at Fort Hays State University, co-edited a collection of essays that will be published by The Experiment Press in spring 2019.

The essay collection is tentatively titled “The Emperor’s Cut: Writers on the Caesarean Experience.”

Poet Rachel Moritz was co-editor.

“We received essays across a range of diverse perspectives that capture the physical, psychological or spiritual imprints of C-section birth,” said Fields.

Fields’ essay in the collection, “Pulled into Brightness,” received honorable mention in the journal So to Speak’s nonfiction contest in spring 2018 and will appear in their summer issue.

“This project emerged from unresolved feelings about our own C-section experiences and from our sense that this kind of birth experience – so common in the United States – does not receive enough narrative attention,” said Fields. “We were interested in capturing the voices of writers who have experienced Caesareans, particularly since we had noticed a gap in information, stories and support in the post-natal period.”

She continued, “We’re really excited to put this out into the world as more and more national attention is being given to the high rate of Caesareans, maternal mortality rates and social disparities of birth in the U.S.”