The Anxiety of Conception, by Katy Ilonka Gero

Written in the months leading up to and following the birth of the author's child, The Anxiety of Conception comes as a confession of humanity and heartfelt love. Living out the continual mixing and recombining of memories, the book changes with time; every copy represents a uniquely generated and printed tour through Gero's memories, and every copy made contributes to the further mixing of time to come. In this debut like no other, Gero invites us to join her in astonishment at the bizarre and profound phenomenon of life.

The Anxiety of Conception is the second in the Nothing to Say series of “dynamic books” where each copy is uniquely generated and printed.

Praise

“The first anxiety of conception is”, writes Katy Gero, “What if I cannot create? But the second is, What if I cannot properly see my creation?” This deftly rendered attempt at seeing, and seeing properly, one’s creation—through writing and computation—is exquisite. In whichever ordering or form a reader encounters the memories of this ever-shifting text, it will be essential reading on the forking paths of writing, conception, creation, and motherhood.

— Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, author of Travesty Generator and Negative Money

A fascinating work of transformation and reimagining the act of reading itself, we are given over to the power of Gero’s imagination in The Anxiety of Conception: “maybe if I put my hands flat on the earth at some point my fingers would turn into roots.” These prose poems get to the crux of how a “new way of creating subsumes whatever is created” while Gero's musings sprout from that unearthing: “Armadillo rolling across the sand. Do armadillos roll?” They do.

— Rosebud Ben-Oni, Winner of the Alice James Award for If This Is the Age We End Discovery

To read The Anxiety of Conception is to be entrusted with the weight of something precious. With an abundance of both honesty and invention, Gero draws us into a profoundly intimate experience, inviting us to “become” with her—to take part, as reader and even co-creator, in the heady, infinite act of conception.

— Katherine Yang, creator of Coem and ProsePlay

Details

Cover artist: Noa Samson
ISBN: 978-1-7339515-4-8
Publication Date: May 31, 2025
Pages: 108
Contact editors@nothing-to-say.org for wholesale discounts and press inquiries.