Q&A with Jessica Urlichs
Jessica Urlichs shot to stardom on social media with her honest and heartfelt poetry centering around her family and motherhood. We were lucky enough to steal a bit of her time to ask about her writing, lifestyle and of course, her new gift book You Hung the Moon.
Q: You Hung The Moon is a love letter between mother and child that comes full circle. It is so short and sweet, once you finish the book you want to start reading again. Can you tell us why you chose a circular structure for this poem?
A: I think if you have this sort of close relationship with your mother, once you have a baby yourself you realise how the relationship is so intrinsically connected. For me, when I became a mother I often started to think about my own, how she had been where I had, how much we give, and how we are given so much more.
Q: Your poems evoke a lot of emotion in the reader (we admit to getting choked up while reading it ourselves), how do you channel your emotions into your poetry?
A: I’m so happy to hear that, I love hearing that people feel things through my poetry. I almost treat my writing in a way like letters to myself, or to my children. When I write I don’t write for anyone else, so when it comes time to sharing my work maybe it feels a lot more personal because it is? I’m not too sure really, I haven’t actually thought about it!
Q: What feeds your creativity and what hinders it?
A: This is a funny question because the beautiful chaos of life with young children does exactly both. I draw so much inspiration in my work from just living day to day life with 3 under 5. The time to get my thoughts down however is another story! There’s a lot of phone notepad jotting and late nights involved at the moment.
Q: You’ve been writing since you were five years old, did you ever imagine your poems would reach the huge audience that they have today?
A: Never, I feel truly grateful that my work is able to reach others in the way that it does, it was always a dream, but one that stayed on the pillowcase, so I thought!
Q: How you’re using your platform to empower people, especially mothers, is so important. What inspires you to keep creating content?
A: It’s both my passion and also my form of marketing, but I only write when I feel called to. It’s always been something I have loved because it’s served me as a form of self-expression, so I make sure I never post or write for the sake of creating content. I also have a really beautiful community on social media too, it makes it a lot easier to be vulnerable in my work.
Q: Can you describe for us your typical day as a mother/author?
A: At the moment it’s a bit all over the place. Between school, kindy, and looking after my 4 month old full time I try and steal moments where I can. Usually during naps, when my husband gets home, at nights or on weekends. We are very busy at the moment, but we also love being busy. The juggling act between working and motherhood is forever a balancing act, but I’ve also been making sure I take the time to spend with my new baby without worrying too much about deadlines. This third time around is going by so fast!
Q: And lastly, a bit of a fun question: Who are some of your favourite literary mothers?
A: I love the work of Kate Baer, Maggie Smith and Hollie McNish.
Thank you so much for your time and energy. Congratulations again on the publication of this lovely gift book, it is a real gem for mothers old and new and for their children too. You Hung the Moon by Jessica Urlichs & gorgeously illustrated by Sarah Reinhardt is out now (just in time for Mother’s Day!).
