The audience at the latest Author Event at Molesey Library heard Jessica Hepburn give a very inspiring talk divided into what she described as ‘two acts’.
In the first, Jessica told us about her challenging role as Executive Director of the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, a position she has held for nine years and where she is currently overseeing a very ambitious £20 million redevelopment plan which should be completed next year.
In the second ‘act’, Jessica turned to her best-selling book “The Pursuit of Motherhood’, published earlier this year, which relates her long and so far unsuccessful struggle to have a baby. Her account of years of IVF treatment, multiple miscarriages and a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy is a very personal one and Jessica told us how writing the book had marked a shift from her earlier position of secrecy and shame to one of being totally open about her infertility problem.
The reaction to the book has made Jessica aware how many people are affected by infertility and over the past few months she has appeared on TV and radio and in the press, and has started writing a widely-read blog, to open up discussion of the issue. She felt that she could now take some positives from her own experience, including becoming herself again after years of secrecy and discovering a love of writing – she is currently embarked on a second book, due out next year, which will explore motherhood and childlessness.
She summed up her philosophy as being “If you can’t change the outcome, change your attitude to the outcome’.
Jessica concluded by telling us about the latest challenge she has set herself – swimming the English Channel! She hopes to attempt the crossing next year and, given her enthusiasm and get-up-and-go attitude, you can surely put money on her achieving it!
Report by Carol Parker
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