Select Page

In her new book published April 3, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh associate English professor Laura Jean Baker shares a poignant account of life in the Midwest that mixes marriage and motherhood with crime and courtroom drama.

UW Oshkosh’s Women’s Center will host a discussion with Baker about The Motherhood Affidavits: A Memoir from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 9, in Reeve Memorial Union Ballroom.

The event, co-sponsored by the Women’s Advocacy Council, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Sisterhood, also will include a book signing and a workshop about how to tell your own story.

The Motherhood Affidavits portrays a woman, a marriage and a family caught in an impossible bind. The book’s heartbreaking resolution raises profound questions about whether society is governed by morals or laws—and whether either is an adequate measure of any one person’s ability to parent and capacity for love.

In the book, Baker shares the ups and downs of her own experiences with mental health, marriage and motherhood as well as the details of cases her husband, Ryan Ulrich, takes on as a freelance public defender.

She said writing the memoir of her life set in Oshkosh was both “nerve-wracking” and “familiar,” as she doesn’t often hold back in sharing her thoughts and feelings with others in her day-to-day life.

“It’s how I operate,” she said.

Her goal was to take an honest look at her own thoughts and actions just as her husband’s clients had their crimes “exposed” to the public.

With an undergraduate degree in journalism from UW-Madison, Baker said she was naturally drawn to the memoir form of nonfiction writing, which differs from the more linear, panoramic autobiography.

“A memoir focuses more on a specific period of time and a theme that usually involves grappling with issues that the protagonist has to overcome,” she explained.

Besides the UWO event, Baker will appear at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at Barnes and Noble in Appleton; and at 7 p.m. on May 1 at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Baker received her MFA from the University of Michigan, where she was a Colby Fellow for graduate study. Her creative work has appeared in premiere literary journals, including The Gettysburg Review, Third Coast, CALYX, Confrontation and Alaska Quarterly Review. Her essay, “The Year of the Tiger” was a Notable Essay of The Best American Essays series in 2013.

Learn more: