A very good question is going to be asked in Birmingham on Saturday, 28 May 2016. If one in six couples experience some form of infertility, why do they feel so alone?
Birmingham Rep will be the venue for Fertility Fest – the first event of its kind in the UK. Produced by Jessica Hepburn and Gabby Vautier, it will bring together 20 writers, visual artists, theatre-makers, film-directors and composers alongside some of the country’s foremost fertility experts.
We will be talking about, and sharing art around, the diagnosis of infertility, IVF, donation, surrogacy, the male experience, egg freezing, involuntary childlessness and alternative routes to parenthood.
I will be there (speaking at 11.30am). I think it’s highly unlikely I will manage to be there without crying. (I say that to prepare myself as much as anybody else.)
Other people might want to talk about the effects of fertility science on future generations and how far as a society are we prepared to go in our pursuit of parenthood. I want to be there because I want to stand in the same space as people whose deep longing to have children remains unfulfilled. Grieving is inevitable. There is no escaping that. But whatever else we feel, we do not need to feel alone.
- Book tickets for Birmingham’s Fertility Fest, which includes a performance of The Quiet House by Gareth Farr.
- Book tickets for London’s Fertility Fest on Saturday, 11 June 2016.
Day 26
One day I shall look back at this time
At the waiting
And the counting
And the bleeding
And the longing
The trying
And the not-trying
The loving
And forgiving
And I will say that it made sense.
I know the time will come again
When my womb will be holding
The secret hope,
The possibility of miracle;
Origins so awesome
That only God can know.
But today my vulva
Is tender-lipped
Heralding blood.
And today is the day
I have to live
Right now
Learning to embrace
My own body and grieving dreams
With the fierce
Unconditional
Over-whelming
Mother’s love
That is present
That is ready
That is now.
Jo Ind
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