Womb: Leah Hazard on Where We All Began

The size of a clenched fist, the shape of a lightbulb, with no less power and potential...

It's an honour and a thrill to launch Leah Hazard's landmark new book on the womb.

The womb is the most miraculous organ in the body - with the power to bring life or cause death; to yield joy or pain - yet most of us know almost nothing about it. In Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began, midwife and bestselling author Leah Hazard sets out on a journey to explore the rich past, complex present and dynamic future of the uterus.

She speaks to the Californian doctor who believes women deserve a period-free life; walks in the footsteps of the Scottish woman whose Caesarean section changed childbirth forever; uncovers America's long history of forced and coercive sterilisation; observes uterine transplant surgery in Sweden and takes a very personal dive into the world of 'womb wellness'. Written with wisdom, warmth and nuance, and combining the author's years of experience as a midwife with medical history, scientific discovery and journalistic inquiry, Womb is an extraordinary exploration of a woefully under-researched and misunderstood organ.

Above all, the book reveals that the uterus is more than the sum of its biological parts: it influences all our lives in the twenty-first century, and how we celebrate, medicate and legislate the womb might yet control where we go from here.

Join us for a night of exploration and discovery, celebrating one of the season's most exciting publications!

'Page for page, I may not have ever learned more from a book' Rob Delaney, author of A Heart that Works

'It will change the way you think about bodies forever' Rachel Clarke, author of Dear Life

'Empowerment in book form' Maxine Mei-Fung Chung, author of What Women Want

'A phenomenal book' Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women

Our Host: Lee Randall is a freelance book festival programmer with more than 30 years experience in book publishing and media.