We are excited to announce that Amani Haydar will feature on our In The Spirit Of Things Conversation for International Self Care Day on July 7. Amani Haydar's book, The Mother Wound is one of the most hotly awaited new releases this year and we are privileged she has agreed to speak with us.
Amani eloquently tells the story of the impact of intergenerational trauma on her, her family and indeed the community, offering insights into the justice system, the importance of self care and therapy when required and talks to coercive control and emotional abuse.
Amani Haydar suffered the unimaginable in 2015 when she lost her mother in a brutal act of domestic violence perpetrated by her father. Five months pregnant at the time, her own perception of how she wanted to mother (and was mothered) was shaped by this devastating murder.
In the aftermath, Amani and her siblings were faced with the loss of both parents - their father, Haydar Haydar, was charged and sentenced to 18 years behind bars.
Domestic and Family Violence knows no bounds.
‘I am from a family of strong women.’
Over the past six years, Amani has re-evaluated her parent’s relationship (an arranged marriage) and her childhood, and reckoned with the burden of intergenerational trauma and impact of the passing of her maternal grandmother in Beirut in 2006.
She’s examined the holes in the justice system for addressing and combating emotional abuse and coercive control and advocates for change.
She’s raised two beautiful children. Now, in The Mother Wound, Amani writes with power, fury and grace on how we inherit violence and trauma, but also strength, resilience and joy. She writes from the intersection of her experiences as a victim of crime, a lawyer, an Arab-Australian, a woman, daughter and a mother. Poetically combining memoir, social commentary and legal analysis, this is a powerful story of female resilience and motherhood you won’t easily forget.
About Amani Haydar
Amani Haydar is an award-winning artist, lawyer, mum and advocate for women’s health and safety based in Western Sydney. In 2018 Amani’s self-portrait titled Insert Headline Here was a finalist in the Archibald Prize.
Since then, her writing and illustrations have been published in Arab, Australian, Other, Sweatshop Women Volume Two, SBS Voices and ABC News Online.
In 2020 Amani was a Finalist for the NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year Award and was named Local Woman of the Year for Bankstown in recognition of her advocacy against domestic violence. Amani serves on the board of the Bankstown Women’s Health Centre and uses visual art and writing to explore the personal and political dimensions of abuse, loss, identity and resilience
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