Poetry Corner featuring Dr. Julia McDonald

Julia McDonald (They/She) is a physician, writer and advocate for sexual and reproductive rights. They are faculty at the Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency, serve as the Medical Director of Mabel Wadsworth Center, and work internationally with Doctors Without Borders. In the last decade, McDonald’s writing has appeared in mainstream news media as advocacy for patients and commentary on the intersection of politics and medicine.  Their creative nonfiction and poetry has appeared in The Sun, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), Please See Me, Beyond Queer Words, and others. Dr. McDonald became a Certified Listener Poet with the Good Listening Project in the fall of 2024.  Hysteriography: Poems about Uteruses, Menstruation, Pregnancy, Abortion, Loss, and Childbirth, released in 2025, is their first book. 

Hysteriography is a collection of listening poems and origin stories, birthed from intimate conversations and bound in a hand-screen-printed cover by Little Chair Printing. In conjunction with The Good Listening Project, they elevate lived uterus experiences with lyrical language and vivid imagery while spanning an emotional spectrum from heartbreak to grrrl power humor. Arriving into a divided and violent world at a critical time for people with uteruses and for those who love them, Hysteriography is a perfect antidote for these times: applicable, timely, and devastatingly beautiful. All proceeds after publication costs will be donated equally to The Good Listening Project, SisterSong, and National Abortion Federation.

As always, we will close the event with an open mic.