The Diverse Bookshelf
Welcome to The Diverse Bookshelf. I’m Samia Aziz, celebrating the power of literature and the voices of authors and change makers from the global majority. Join me as we explore the stories that inspire, connect, and transform our world. Each week I interview an inspiring guest about a whole host of themes and issues while focusing on diverse literature.
Let’s uncover the stories that truly matter—together.
The Diverse Bookshelf
Ep89: Pragya Agarwal on motherhood, infertility & being a woman
On this week’s episode, I’m speaking to Dr. Pragya Agarwal all about motherhood, gender-based stereotypes and biases, infertility and so much more. In her book, Motherhood – on the choices of being a woman – Pragya shares her own journey of becoming a mother at a young age, and then facing years of secondary infertility until her two beautiful twin daughters were born through surrogacy. It’s a pheonomenal book, focusing on intersectionality, offering us a perspective that merges race, class and other elements of identity when talking about motherhood and infertility.
Pragya Agarwal, Ph.D., is a visiting professor of social inequities and injustice at Loughborough University, writer, speaker, and consultant. Following a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham, Pragya held the prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship and has held senior academic positions and visiting fellowships at various U.S. and U.K. universities.
Pragya is the author of a number of scholarly articles and four non-fiction books.
Just a little trigger warning, in this episode, we talk about some difficult topics including infertility, IVF, abortion and baby and pregnancy loss. So if you need to return to this episode at a later date, or skip it altogether, please do.