This special cluster on ‘Changing Models of Motherhood’ introduces two papers presented at a workshop hosted by the AHRC-funded 'Motherhood in Post-1968 European Literature Network'. The aim of the Network has been to enable cross-cultural, transnational, and interdisciplinary dialogue on motherhood, bringing together researchers and practitioners from the UK and Europe studying motherhood in contemporary European literatures, and across a broad range of disciplines and European cultures. In particular, the Network aims to raise the profile of literature in such conversations.