Madison author Janine Veto’s memoir is “Unknown Bodies: Mothers Daughters and Adoption.”
Madison author Janine Veto’s memoir “Unknown Bodies: Mothers Daughters and Adoption” reads like a novel as it documents her life, including her adoption; searching for her birth parents; and becoming a mother herself. While the memoir gives a deep and powerful look at adoption, it’s relatable to all mothers and daughters.
Her professional journey ultimately brought Veto back to the Midwest and Madison in 2005, where she still lives and writes after retiring from the UW Foundation.
Q: You lived in New York, Chicago and Hawaii and traveled even more extensively. What eventually brought you to Madison and how did you end up writing books?
A: I always wanted to be a writer, but I was also pragmatic. There’s not a lot of stability if you are a full-time writer. I didn’t, at that time, want to be a teacher (a common profession for women in the 1970s). I took a communications degree at Northwestern. I did spend a lot more time writing when I was younger, in my 20s and 30s. It was the height of the women’s movement. I primarily wrote poetry and also published a novel in the ‘80s. I was in New York when the whole field of development was emerging.
Once I adopted Francesca when I was in my mid-40s, we lived in Manhattan. I was working in performing arts … (where) you work during the day and then you have performances (at night). Francesca had a lot of interesting backstage experiences at Lincoln Center and Alvin Ailey. I was put off by the whole Manhattan obsession with getting into the right schools and testing 3-year-olds. I said, “Oh no, I don’t think this is for us.” I had a cottage in Sag Harbor so we decided to try (living there) for a year. There a more Midwestern childhood was possible.
