Cover Art: Carla Kreuser

my mother, my madness

Colleen Higgs

A woman reluctantly takes on the responsibility of putting her eccentric rebellious mother into a retirement home, and managing her care. She has her own daughter to raise and nurture, a marriage and a business to hold together, and her own psychological troubles due in good part to how she was mothered. my mother, my madness is Colleen Higgs’s diary of her mother’s last 10 years. It is at once funny, harrowing, mundane, chaotic, and full of insight – a rich and moving story which unfolds through its characters like a novel.

*

It takes courage to be truthful about the frightfulness of a parent, but Higgs writes with frankness and the tale is tender and compelling. […] Her insight and resoluteness are admirable.

– Michele Magwood

 

Date of publication: 2020

ISBN 978-1-928476-36-8 / ebook ISBN 978-1-928476-37-5
128 pages
200 x 130mm

R220.00

 

Colleen Higgs 2023 © Kate Olivier

 

Colleen Higgs is a writer and publisher. She founded Modjaji Books as an independent press in 2007, and to date has published almost 200 books. She is also a writing teacher who has taught creative writing for over 30 years.
Higgs is the author of two collections of poetry, a short story collection and a memoir. Her writings have been widely anthologised, most recently in Michael Chapman’s New Century of South African Poetry and in The Only Magic We Know.

Books published
Poetry
Halfborn Woman
(Hands-On Books, 2004)
Lava Lamp Poems (Hands-On Books, 2011)

Short story collection
Looking for Trouble (Hands-On Books, 2012)

Memoir
my mother, my madness (Deep South, 2020)

Publishing
A rough guide to small-scale and self-publishing (Centre for the Book, 2005)
Editor/Compiler: African Small Publishers’ Catalogue (Modjaji, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2024)

 

Additional information

Weight 0.5 kg

Reviews of this book

Review by Gillian Rennie of my mother, my madness by Colleen Higgs    My View by Robyn Sassen and other writers / Grocott's Mail, 2020    text PDF

Review by Michele Magwood of my mother, my madness by Colleen Higgs    Wanted Online, 2020    text PDF

Interviews & Articles

Interview with Colleen Higgs by Janet van Eeden    LitNet, 2020

Interview with Colleen Higgs by Nomaqhawe Ndlovu    Alliance Lab blog (International Alliance of Independent Publishers), 2020

Article by Colleen Higgs: "My Mother, My Madness, or Processed via Publishing" in Bruce Dennill's pARTicipate blog, 2020

Other reviews on my mother, my madness by Colleen Higgs

Review by Megan Ross of my mother, my madness by Colleen Higgs    New Frame, 2021    text PDF

Other writing by Colleen Higgs

Colleen Higgs's Substack, titled A Wild Patience, started in January 2024. It comprises essays, musings, her own writings, and writings about the publishing process and her work as a publisher    A Wild Patience

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