The Pearlsong Letter

Pearlsong Press Authors & Publisher Chat About Fat Friendly Fiction

Click here to listen to the 50-minute mp3 recording of today's 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.

Rebecca Fox & William Sherman interviewed on BlogCritics Radio

Measure By Measure authors Rebecca Fox & William Sherman were interviewed on  BlogCritics Radio earlier today.

Listen to or download the show (while the mp3 link is up) at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bcradio ... they'rein the second half of the show, following the interview with members of the band Sugarwall.

Listen to a Pearlsong Conversation with Rebecca Fox & William Sherman, authors of the romantic romp Measure By Measure

Click here to listen to a 50-minute mp3 recording of Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. chatting with Rebecca Fox & William Sherman, authors of the novel Measure By Measure (Pearlsong Press, June 15, 2009).

In this June 10, 2009 Pearlsong Conversation Fox and Sherman discuss their collaborative writing process, the creation of Measure By Measure's many and varied characters (and who they're based on), what it's like to publish a serial storyline (Measure By Measure first came to life in the late 1990s as a serial in Dimensions magazine online), and the importance of fat-positive fiction.

Their robust. comic romance fleshes out the truth about soap opera: It's not just for the rich and slender. Measure By Measure is a Tales of the City for the fat and fabulous!

The Pearlsong Conversations series are monthly free teleconference calls in which Dr. Elam chats with Pearlsong authors and readers. If time and technology permit, participants/callers can ask questions and join in the conversation. Each teleconference is recorded and the recording made available for listening online or downloading at the Pearlsong Press website. (For links to archived recordings of previous Pearlsong Conversations, as well as a schedule of future teleconference calls, visit the Pearlsong Conversations webpage.)

Listen to and/or download the mp3 recording of the Conversation with Becky & Bill here.

Fat poetry, fat pride, & the Fat Poets' Society -- A Pearlsong Conversation with the authors of Fat Poets Speak

Hear the five co-authors of Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society share the poetry and process of fat embodiment in this hour-long Pearlsong Conversation with publisher/psychologist Peggy Elam, Ph.D.

The teleconference call featuring Kathy Barron, Anne S. Kaplan, Corinna Makris, Lesleigh J. Owen & Frannie Zellman was held May 13, 2009 as one of a monthly series in which Elam chats with Pearlsong authors and fans have the opportunity to listen live, comment and ask questions. (For more on the series, including archived recordings of previous Conversations, click here.)

In a sociocultural climate in which fat bodies are considered diseased and blamed for everything from rising medical costs to global warming, it takes courage for fat women, especially, to express anything but shame about their bodies. Fat Poets Speak is part of and intended for the growing movement reclaiming "fat" as a valid way to exist in the world.

The Fat Poets' Society was born during the 2006 annual convention of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), a civil rights organization. The authors are donating the royalties from Fat Poets Speak to NAAFA.

A Conversation with Charlie Lovett, author of The Program

In today's Pearlsong Conversation, Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. chatted with author Charlie Lovett about his suspense novel The Program and the writing process

Listen to and/or download the 28-minute mp3 recording of the Conversation clicking here. (Right click on the link and "save as" to download.)

Charlie Lovett is writer-in-residence at Summit School in Winston-Salem, NC. His plays for children have been seen in over 1,000 productions in all 50 states and 5 foreign countries. He is the author of 11 previous books, including the acclaimed memoir Love, Ruth. The Program is his first novel.

A new weight loss clinic in New York City has an offer for you -- give them $5,000 and they'll make you as thin as a supermodel. You can eat whatever you want and you'll never gain an ounce. Tempted? Fledgling journalist Karen Sumner would be -- if only she had $5,000.

When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women.

Will they be able to stop The Program in time?

For more info on Pearlsong Conversations and links to the mp3 recordings of past Conversations with authors Frannie Zellman (FatLand), Pat Ballard [10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are)] & Linda Wisniewski {Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage), click here. Or click on the "Pearlsong Conversations" category in the lefthand colum of this blog.

The free teleconference calls are held on the second Wednesday of the month, beginning at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central. The May 2009 Conversation will feature the Fat Poets' Society, authors of Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society.

Join a Pearlsong Conversation with author Charlie Lovett Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Update 4-8-2009: Listen to and/or download the mp3 recording of the Conversation with Charlie Lovett by clicking here. (Right click on the link and "save as" to download.)

Join Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. in a free teleconference call Wednesday, April 8, 2009 for a Conversation with Charlie Lovett, author of the chick-lit-meets-Stephen King thriller The Program.

Charlie Lovett is writer-in-residence at Summit School in Winston-Salem, NC. His plays for children have been seen in over 1,000 productions in all 50 states and 5 foreign countries. He is the author of 11 previous books, including the acclaimed memoir Love, Ruth. The Program is his first novel.

The hour-long teleconference will start at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central. For call-in details (teleconference phone number & access code), send an email to pearlsongconversations@pearlsong.com. You will receive an automated response with the phone number and access code for the call. There is no charge for the call, other than any long distance toll that your phone service might apply.

A new weight loss clinic in New York City has an offer for you -- give them $5,000 and they'll make you as thin as a supermodel. You can eat whatever you want and you'll never gain an ounce. Tempted? Fledgling journalist Karen Sumner would be -- if only she had $5,000.

When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women.

Will they be able to stop The Program in time?

Join us in chatting with Charlie Lovett next Wednesday!

For more info on Pearlsong Conversations and links to the mp3 recordings of past Conversations with authors Frannie Zellman (FatLand), Pat Ballard [10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are)] & Linda Wisniewski {Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage), click here. Or click on the "Pearlsong Conversations" category in the lefthand colum of this blog.

A Pearlsong 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.

Story Circle Network podcast interview with Linda C. Wisniewski, author of Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, and Her Polish Heritage

Becca Taylor talks with Linda C. Wisniewski, author of Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage (Pearlsong Press, April 2008) in the May 2008 edition of the Story Circle Network podcast.

Linda shares her experience with writing as healing, and also provides tips on pursuing publication.

To read about and listen to the podcast, go to http://www.storycircle.org, click on the SCN Podcast link in the lefthand column, and then click the link to VISIT THE PODCAST SITE NOW! (Due to frames in their website's formatting, I can't post direct links to the podcast page.)

You can also access the podcast recording directly by clicking here to listen or download.

Mary Saracino discusses fiction's role in the sacred feminine

Mary Saracino, whose novel The Singing of Swans was a finalist in the 2007 Lambda Literary Awards' Spirituality category, was interviewed on Karen Tate's Voices of the Sacred Feminine internet radio show Wednesday evening. The archived recording of the show is now available for downloading or listening online.

The interview focuses on fiction's role in rethinking, reclaiming and reawakening the memory of the sacred female, with an emphasis on Saracino's novel and how she claim to write it. Tate and Saracino also discuss Sicily's Lake Pergusa, long associated with feminine spirituality and the goddess Persephone. The lake plays an important role in Saracino's novel.

Download the mp3 recording of Saracino's interview by going to the webpage for Tate's radio show and scrolling down to the list of Feburary 2008 guests and topics, where a link is available to the Feb. 6, 2008 show.
 

Mary Saracino discusses the sacred feminine on Karen Tate's internet radio show

Mary Saracino, author of The Singing of Swans, will be interviewed on Karen Tate's Voices of the Sacred Feminine internet radio show Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central, 7 p.m. Mountain).

Saracino will discuss "Fiction's Role in Rethinking, Reclaiming and Reawakening the Memory of the Sacred Female." Her fourth book, The Singing of Swans, a novel about the divine feminine and the Black Madonna, was a finalist for the 2007 Lambda Literary Awards.

Following the broadcast, which can be heard live over the internet at http://internetvoicesradioradio.com,  a recording of the show will be archived at http://internetvoicesradio.com/Arch-Karen.htm.