Acknowledgements

Thank you to all the writers who took part in this project, those who attended the workshops, and those who have contributed to this anthology –your words are moving, insightful and hopeful, and above all, truthful. We’re delighted to be able to showcase your work.

We are hugely grateful to Dr Helen Foster, Research Assistant/Outreach Officer at the East Midlands Oral History Archive at the University of Leicester, for organising this project, and to Aimee Wilkinson and Hayley Green at Writing East Midlands for their support in facilitating the Silent Archive ‘Let’s Write About the Menopause’ workshops.

Thank you to Anna Cotton and Leanne Moden for their work leading the workshops and editing this anthology. Thank you to Pippa Hennessy for invaluable support with cover design, editing, proofreading and typesetting for publication – we couldn’t have done it without you, Pippa!

Finally, we are deeply grateful to receive funding for this project from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and ongoing support from the East Midlands Oral History Archive in partnership with Writing East Midlands and the University of Leicester. Thank you for allowing us to elevate seldomheard stories of menopause and middle age.

We are also incredibly grateful to you, the reader. 2020 has been a ridiculously challenging year, but as this project has shown, the light of human kindness and connection will always shine out, even in the darkest of times.

“We don’t talk about 'Women’s Things’.”

As a society, we don't often speak openly and frankly about menopause. But maybe we should...

This innovative anthology includes new writing by twenty women from across the East Midlands. Created as part of the Silent Archive Project, each piece of prose, poetry and memoir in the collection explores the strange, poignant, funny and difficult experiences of menopause and mid-life, offering fresh and illuminating perspectives on a taboo topic, and giving voice to stories that are rarely heard.

This collection is an act of defiance, solidarity and support. It is also an incredible insight into what it means to be a woman.