Due to intensifying global mobility, increasing numbers of women fi nd themselves mothering in countries that are linguistically and culturally foreign to them. They must deal with issues related to multilingualism, shifting identities and belonging. The essays La Lenteur des montagnes ( The Slowness of the Mountains , 2014) and ‘ Lettre d ’ Umbertide ’ ( ‘ Letter from Umbertide ’ , 2004) by the Chinese-born Canadian author Ying Chen provide a vivid example. Using recent research on contemporary Asian women ’ s writing in the diaspora and notions of écriture migrante ( ‘ migrant writing ’ ) as well as nomadic consciousness as a framework, this article explores how Chen ’ s essays envision what it means and feels like to be a mother of Chinese origin in contemporary Canada. This work proffers wider understandings of the condition of migrant mothering as it touches on critical debates around literatures of mobility.