Knocking Myself Up

From PEN/America Award winner, 2021 Guggenheim fellow, and beloved literary and tarot icon Michelle Tea, the hilarious, powerfully written, taboo-breaking story of her journey to pregnancy and motherhood as a 40 year-old, queer, uninsured woman

Written in intimate, gleefully TMI prose, Knocking Myself Up is the irreverent account of Tea’s route to parenthood—with a group of ride-or-die friends, a generous drag queen, and a whole lot of can-do pluck. Along the way she falls in love with a wholesome genderqueer a decade her junior, attempts biohacking herself a baby with black market fertility meds (and magicking herself an offspring with witch-enchanted honey), learns her eggs are busted, and enters the Fertility Industrial Complex in order to carry her younger lover’s baby.

With the signature sharp wit and wild heart that have made her a favorite to so many readers, Tea guides us through the maze of medical procedures, frustrations and astonishments on the path to getting pregnant, wryly critiquing some of the systems that facilitate that choice (“a great, punk, daredevil thing to do”). In Knocking Myself Up, Tea has crafted a deeply entertaining and profound memoir, a testament to the power of love and family-making, however complex our lives may be, to transform and enrich us.

Part punk rock quest, part love story, this unforgettable memoir explores one woman's refusal to take no for an answer.

• Single Mother by Choice: Tea's initial plan to go it alone, complete with witch-enchanted honey, black market fertility meds, and a whole lot of can-do pluck.
• An Unconventional Love Story: Just as she decides to get pregnant, she falls for Orson, a wholesome genderqueer a decade her junior, turning her solo mission into an unexpected partnership.
• The Power of Chosen Family: From a ride-or-die group of friends to Quentin, the generous drag queen sperm donor, this is a story built on fierce queer community.
• Navigating the Fertility Industrial Complex: A raw, hilarious, and critical look at the maze of medical procedures, baffling costs, and emotional highs and lows of trying to conceive when you're uninsured and queer.