Leah Kim’s MOM, UNFILTERED with Frederick Joseph

Word Up welcomes mental health advocate and storyteller Leah 수진 Kim to discuss her new book, Mom, Unfiltered: Maternal Mental Health and Finding Freedom Through Motherhood, a deeply personal examination of the dire state of our maternal and postpartum care for mothers.

In conversation with Kim will be Frederick Joseph, author of This Thing of Ours and Patriarchy Blues: Reflections on Manhood.

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 30 max attendees. Please register in advance.

Word Up Community Bookshop is located at 2113 Amsterdam Ave. (& 165th St.) in Washington Heights, NYC. You can take the 1 train to 168th St and the A/C train to 163rd or 168th  St.

ABOUT THE BOOK

For expecting and new parents, too often the care is so focused on a healthy baby that the mother’s physical and mental needs are overlooked. Mothers face intense pressure to have the perfect birth plan, breastfeed with ease, and immediately bond with their baby. Unfortunately, these expectations can lead to anxiety, depression, and overwhelm. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In Mom, Unfiltered: Maternal Mental Health and Finding Freedom Through Motherhood, Leah Kim explores her own pregnancy and early motherhood experience as a person of the global majority, the ways society fails new mothers, the mental health struggles of expecting and new mothers, the systemic neglect in care for mothers with marginalized identities, and how motherhood can be the inspiration for getting help and healing. Her story, enhanced with expert interviews, valuable resources, and the testimonies of other mothers, not only illuminates the impact of insufficient maternal care but also shows readers what can be done to improve care for mothers.

Mom, Unfiltered is profoundly personal and brutally honest, yet it is ultimately deeply hopeful. It is about survival and growth, an invitation to move beyond our current social, cultural, and familial realities to support mothers in a meaningful way-physically, mentally, and spiritually.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leah 수진 Kim is a storyteller, consultant, podcaster, community organizer, and advocate for intersectional justice. A former yoga teacher and Nike’s Global Yoga Ambassador for a decade, she is now an author and offers 1:1 editorial support for fellow writers. On the Voices on the Side and Cha podcasts, Leah hosts conversations with people of the global majority who inspire her with their advocacy, activism, and stories of resistance and resilience. Mom, Unfiltered is her first book and it will be published with Bloomsbury in April 2026. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son, daughter, and doodle.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Frederick Joseph is a three-time New York Times and USA Today bestselling author from Yonkers, New York, whose work spans poetry, nonfiction, children’s literature, and young adult fiction. He is the author of the acclaimed YA novel This Thing of Ours, which received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly, was nominated for The Georgia Peach Book Award, and was named one of the Best Young Adult Books of 2025 by Kirkus, the Chicago Public Library, and BookPage. 

His body of work includes the poetry collection We Alive, Beloved; the bestselling nonfiction titles The Black Friend and Patriarchy Blues; the collaborative volume Better Than We Found It; and the children’s books Black Panther: Wakanda Forever—The Courage to Dream and Planting Hope. Across genres, Joseph’s writing is known for its emotional precision, cultural urgency, and commitment to reimagining how we understand identity, justice, and belonging.

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https://wordupbooks.com/event/2026-05-16/leah-kims-mom-unfiltered-frederick-joseph