On The Whole

10-Steps-to-Loving-Your-Body-(No-Matter-What-Size-You-Are)

Authors & Publisher Chat About Fat Friendly Fiction

Click here to listen to the 50-minute mp3 recording of the July 9, 2009 Pearlsong Conversation on Creating & Publishing Fat Friendly Fiction - Part 1.

In this teleconference call Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. chats with authors Lynne Murray, Frannie Zellman, Charlie Lovett, Ellen Frankel, Rebecca Fox & William Sherman about why and how they wrote fat characters in their work, reader reactions, and their anticipation of a time in which there is as much need for a "fat friendly fiction" publishing niche as there currently is for "white friendly fiction."

Murray is the author of the Josephine Fuller mystery series. Her new book, Bride of the Living Dead, will be published by Pearlsong Press. Zellman is the author of FatLand and editor & co-author of Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society. Lovett is the author of The Program. Frankel wrote Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature and Inner Growth and co-authored The Diet Survivor's Handbook & Beyond A Shadow of A Diet. Fox & Sherman are co-authors of Measure By Measure.

Mark your calendar for the continuation of the Conversation on Wednesday, August 12, 2009. Pat Ballard (Queen of Rubenesque Romances & author of 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are) was unable to participate in this July Conversation due to phone trouble, but plans to join the August call.

Email pearlsongconversations @ pearlsong.com for August call-in details or visit the Pearlsong Conversations webpage for more information.

A Conversation About Creating & Publishing Fat Friendly Fiction

Join me (Peggy Elam) and several Pearlsong Press authors in two free teleconference calls at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central Wednesday, July 8 & Wednesday, August 12, 2009 as we discuss creating and publishing fat friendly fiction.

We'd love to hear from YOU as well! This is your chance to let us know what YOU want to read.

Featured Conversationalists will include:

Lynne Murray, author of the Josephine Fuller mystery series, whose new book Bride of the Living Dead will be published by Pearlsong Press; Pat Ballard, Queen of Rubenesque Romances and author of 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are); Frannie Zellman, author of FatLand and editor and co-author of Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society; Charlie Lovett, author of The Program; and Ellen Frankel, author of Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature & Inner Growth and co-author of The Diet Survivors' Handbook & Beyond A Shadow of A Diet.

Topics to be discussed will include why these authors decided to write about fat characters, any challenges in writing fat characters, and reactions from readers.

 If you don't feel comfortable speaking up during the teleconference―which will be recorded―then email your questions or comments to me at peggyelam@pearlsong.com.

Email pearlsongconversations@pearlsong.com for the details (teleconference phone number & access code) and call the teleconference line at noon Eastern (11 a.m. Central) to listen and/or participate in the hour-long Conversations. You can participate in one or both calls.

The line will handle up to 96 participants―first come, first served. There's no cost for the calls other than your usual long distance charges.

We are recording these Pearlsong Conversations and making them available for listening online or downloading after the calls. You can find links to the previous Conversation recordings on the Pearlsong Conversations webpage.

See http://www.pearlsong.com/pearlsongconversations.htm for more info. Request the call-in number & access code (which will be the same for both calls) by emailing pearlsongconversations@pearlsong.com.

I hope I'll hear your voice―or at least you'll hear ours―on July 8 & August 12!

In Joy,

Peggy Elam, Ph.D.

Psychologist,
Editor & Publisher,
Pearlsong Press

"A book, too, can be a star, 'explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly.'"

Madeline L'Engle
in her acceptance speech for the Newberry Award
for A Wrinkle in Time,
quoting astronomer Fred Hoyle.

Pharmaceutical companies funding health journalism

HealthNewsReview.org publisher Gary Schwitzer has expressed concerns that the drug company Pfizer is funding National Press Foundation fellowships on cancer issues and that the Society of Professional Journalists is orchestrating a tour of Eli Lilly corporate headquarters including a "professional development session on the reporting of mental health issues" and a "networking reception with Lilly's leaders."

Lilly makes the psychiatric drugs Cymbalta, Prozac and Zyprexa. Pfizer's website indicates it makes several medications for treatment of cancer.

Schwitzer, a professor at the University of Minnesota health journalism program, notes that such actions are conflicts of interest and violate the SPJ code of ethics. He cites a 2008 article in the British Medical Journal warning that "Doctors should be wary of the increasing entanglement of medical journalists and the drug industry."

So should consumers.

Keep this in mind next time you come across news reporting of medical or mental health issues, especially when drugs are involved.

Fat Is A Feminist Issue author Susie Orbach to speak at D.C. area health conference August 1, 2009

 The following is a press release from the Association for Size Diversity & Health:

British author Susie Orbach to speak at D.C. area health conference
Fat Is A Feminist Issue author will discuss & sign new book Bodies
Evening event also features "Discover Your Healthy Weight" DVD screening

REDWOOD CITY, CA -- On Saturday, August 1, 2009 the Association for Size Diversity and Health will host special guest speaker Susie Orbach as part of their annual international conference in Washington.

Orbach, most famous for her 1978 book Fat Is a Feminist Issue , will discuss and sign her newest book, Bodies, published earlier this year. The evening event is open to the public, with eating disorders and health professionals especially encouraged to attend.

Bodies brings into sharp relief the startling trend of seeing our bodies as a site of production, something to “work on” rather than something that “works for” us. In the past several decades a globalized media has overwhelmed us with images of an idealized, westernized body and conditioned us to see any exception to that ideal as a problem. Orbach reveals the true dimensions of the crisis, and points the way toward healing and acceptance.

Orbach is an author, analyst and activist, co-founder of The Women’s Therapy Center in London and New York, and co-convener of the website www.any-body.org.

Conversations with Susie Orbach will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 1, 2009 at the Dulles Airport Marriott Hotel, 45020 Aviation Drive, Dulles, VA 20166. Tickets are $35. Hors d’oeuvres will be served and books will be available for purchase and signing. Pre-registration is required by July 24.

Also included that evening will be the East coast premiere of The Body Positive DVD “Discover your Healthy Weight,” presented by filmmaker and The Body Positive co-founder Connie Sobczak.

The Association for Size Diversity and Health promotes Health At Every Size principles supporting education, research, and the provision of services that enhance health and well-being and are free from weight-based assumptions and weight discrimination.

For more information or to register visit www.sizediversityandhealth.org or call the toll-free number 877....

A Conversation with Pat Ballard, Queen of Rubenesque Romances

Just in time for Valentine's Day, romance novelist Pat Ballard chats with Pearlsong publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. in the second of the Pearlsong Conversations. Click here to listen to and/or download the 50-minute mp3 recording of today's conversation.

In addition to Ballard's 6 romance novels and short story collection featuring Big Beautiful Heroines -- or, as her publisher likes to put it, "books in which the fat chick gets the guy" -- Ballard is the author of the inspirational self-help volume 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are).

Ballard & Elam are joined by FatLand author Frannie Zellman as they discuss Ballard's journey to self- and body-acceptance and -love, her writing process, and why a truly happy Valentine's Day and satisfying sex starts with loving your body, no matter what it looks like.

The Pearlsong Conversations are monthly teleconference calls in which publisher Elam chats with a Pearlsong author and fans. To participate in future Conversations -- or listen to archived recordings of previous ones -- go to www.pearlsong.com/pearlsongconversations.htm.