The Whole Intimate Mess - A memoir by Holly Walker

'The Whole Intimate Mess: Motherhood, Politics, and Women's Writing' - A memoir by Holly Walker

I began to pull the threads of my experience back together. Instead of divergent stories about public failure, private torment, and postnatal distress, I started telling myself a united story: the truth, or as close as I could get to it.

Holly Walker was one of New Zealand’s youngest members of parliament, elected as a Green Party list MP in 2011. In 2014 she stood down and withdrew from the list, citing family reasons.

The Whole Intimate Mess is the story of that journey. In this deeply personal and honest memoir, Holly Walker tells the story of her experiences in parliament, before and after having her first child. She explains how motherhood intervened in her career and how she stepped down to take better care of herself and her family. She also describes the solace and solidarity that she found in the writings of women.

This short book makes a passionate case for the role of literature in political change and personal resilience, and for the importance of women’s voices in the public sphere.

About the author
Holly Walker is a writer, reviewer and children's advocate based in Lower Hutt. From 2011 - 2014 she was a Member of Parliament for the Green Party and has previously worked as a public servant, political advisor, and journalist. She holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Oxford undertaken on a Rhodes Scholarship. She is a regular contributor to The Spinoff, where she co-hosts a monthly parenting podcast, and her essays and interviews have been published by The Wireless, Sunday magazine, and in two recent books. She currently works as a Principal Advisor at the Office of the Children's Commissioner. Holly lives in Petone with her partner and three-year-old daughter and is expecting her second child later in 2017.

© Scoop Media