M Is For Mama... And Also Merlot
by Kate Mangiameli and Brandon Mayberry
Kate and Laura looking real cute. (According to the Editor.)
M is for Mama…and also Merlot, a book co-authored by broadway star Laura Benanti and our very own renaissance-mom, the talented soprano Kate Mangiameli, is disguised as a cleverly illustrated children’s book, but in reality is a hilarious, no-holds-barred romp through the alphabet providing fresh observations and stylish illustrations, which are perfect to support and tickle today’s mama. You may be wondering, “How did this all come about?” After all, Kate is a full-time member of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, a group often referred to as “the hardest working people in show business.” On top of that, she’s raising a 3-year-old with her devoted husband, Adrian. Here is the charming and serendipitous story of how it all came to fruition, in the words of Mama Mangiameli:
“Laura Benanti and I met in the summer of 2017 when our babies were tiny infants, at our local Starbucks in Harlem. It was an early weekday morning and we locked bloodshot eyes, both of us new, overwhelmed moms feeling isolated and hungry for connection. We quickly discovered that we had a lot in common, particularly the fact that we both worked in the performing arts. In fact, she was starting rehearsals for a Broadway show that my husband had just bought us tickets to see! We exchanged numbers that morning and ended up spending a lot of time together during that first year of our daughters’ lives. Our families became close friends, and our friendship has only become stronger now that we both have rambunctious three-year-old girls.
The genesis of our book ‘M is for Mama…and also Merlot’ came from a text chain between the two of us from the beginning of our friendship. Up late at night with our babies, we were sending each other irreverent, alphabet-themed texts from the perspective of our girls, which we found hilarious since we were up to our ears in children’s books. This inspired us to get serious and write a book together.
Kate Mangiameli. (Photo: Jennifer Lee.)
Laura Benanti. (Photo: Jenny Anderson.)
It was a bit of a challenge to figure out a time to start writing, considering we were both active performing artists with jam-packed performance schedules. So we waited until May of 2018, just after the Met Opera’s season ended, to write the book. Thankfully, it didn’t take us long to find our collaborative voice and we had just as much fun writing together as we did sending each other those ridiculous, sleep-deprived late-night texts. The book ended up becoming a little love letter “from moms, for moms.”
A few months later, we showed our draft to Rob Meija, who would later become our agent, and he loved it. We decided to start pitching it to publishers in the fall of 2018, and a book deal with Peter Pauper Press followed shortly thereafter. Our editor ended up finding the perfect person for our style, the British illustrator Helene Weston, who brought our loopy, late-night texts to life.
“M is for Mama…And Also Merlot” is available in your favorite bookstores and online!
‘M is for Mama…’ was meant to come out in April of 2020, well in advance of Mother’s Day. However, the pandemic meant there was a lot of uncertainty regarding the arrival of our first shipments of the book, as they were being printed in China, the initial epicenter of the pandemic. Thankfully, they arrived on time, though our experience with the book launch wasn’t the exciting whirlwind we were imagining. We were looking forward to our book being prominently displayed on the Mother’s Day-themed table of every Barnes & Noble in the country. Plus, Laura and I were scheduled to do a book signing at one of their locations on the Upper West Side, and were even planning some promotional TV spots when COVID-19 hit the New York Metro area. We're hopeful, however, that we can plan a re-launch sometime in the future.
Still, despite the unexpected twists and turns, it was extremely rewarding to see the whole project come to completion, and seeing our book on my shelf every day feels like quite an accomplishment. We hope to write more together in the future!
Both of us are active on social media, and are planning some fun book-related content this summer, so check us out, whether you’re a mom yourself, you’re thinking of becoming a mom, or you simply recognize the comedy and complexity of the lives of modern moms all over the world!”
The illustrations by Helene Weston, showcasing the beautiful spectrum of mothers, are notable and refreshing, as is the diversity of expression through the writing. When asked about the importance of representing a wide variety of moms in the book, Kate noted that diversity was one of the first things she and Laura discussed when putting together a list of our “musts” when finding an illustrator. “Helene’s work represents many mothers of many kinds,” Kate said, “so it made for an easy and wonderful partnership! We wanted to be sure we included people of all colors so we didn’t make anyone feel excluded. It was always a non-negotiable for us, and as you mentioned, well before the current social justice movement that’s happening. Personally, my daughter is half-Jamaican so it’s imperative that brown skin is represented in anything I do in this realm, now and moving forward.”
I have to agree with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who offered his testimonial to the back of the book, saying “my new go-to gift for new mothers is this book and a bottle of wine.” Bottoms up, Kate, Laura, and Helene, and congratulations on what we hope is the first of many collaborations!
Please go check out Laura, Kate and Helene on Instagram and Twitter! Kate can be found at @ktmangia (Twitter: @KateEatsApples), Laura can be found at @laurabenanti (Twitter: @laurabenanti), and the two of them collaborate on the account @misformamaandalsomerlot on Instagram. You can find their amazing illustrator, Helene Weston, on Instagram at @helenetheillustrator.
“M is for Mama…and also Merlot” is currently on sale at Amazon, Target, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, and Indiebound.
