Author’s ‘wild and fascinating experience’ of pregnancy

A new book tells story of woman’s journey through expecting a child

When journalist Chitra Ramaswamy discovered she was pregnant, she longed for a book about it that would treat it as a journey of the mind as well as the body.

So she wrote one herself, calling it Expecting: The Inner Life of Pregnancy.

And she will be sharing her experiences, as well as talking about her book, at Dundee Literary Festival on Friday.

Chitra, whose boy is now three, hopes the work conveys how much more fertile, interesting, complicated, wild, difficult and moving the experience is than we are led to believe.

“I had a great pregnancy and it was hard won, having tried to conceive for two years,” says Chitra, 37, who lives in Leith.

“I found it to be a strange, wild and fascinating experience, quite indescribable and unlike anything else I had done or known,” she adds, admitting that once she became pregnant she realised how little she knew about the “condition”.

Suitably enough, Expecting is a book of nine chapters for the nine months of pregnancy.

“It pays tribute to writers, artists and places and ends on one of the biggest cliffhangers of all: the moment of birth,” Chitra adds.

“In that way, it is for pregnant women, mothers, fathers and anyone who has been born.”

And Chitra is looking forward to bringing her experiences to Dundee Literary Festival to share.

“I’m so thrilled,” she says. “It’s a wonderful city and a wonderful festival, so warm, inclusive and welcoming.

“I hope the audience on Friday will be entertained but also moved to think about their own beginnings, pregnancies, desires to conceive or indeed not to and about their histories and the voices that have been silenced when it comes to this deep and highly emotional subject.

“Bring your babies, whether newborn or middle aged.” And she says, the event is for everyone. “You don’t have to be pregnant – or indeed a woman – to come to the show,” she adds.

Chitra will discuss Expecting with Hannah McGill at the Bonar Hall, starting at noon, price £3, concession £2.

Expecting: The Inner Life of Pregnancy is published by Saraband, £12.99.

I hope the audience will be entertained and moved to think

Chitra Ramaswamy is looking forward to sharing her experiences of pregnancy with an audience at Dundee Literary Festival.