The Pearlsong Letter

Frannie Zellman & new novel FatLand featured in Hudson Reporter article

Frannie Zellman and her novel  FatLand -- published in January 2009 by Pearlsong Press -- are featured in an article by Tricia Tirella in the Hudson Reporter newspaper.

Tirella reports that FatLand was influenced by current events and Zellman's family history of activism and journalism.

Zellman said that she is frightened by what has been happening in England..."They're telling people that they can't have a child if they're over a certain weight, that they can't adopt children if they are over a certain weight. They're talking about doing almost exactly what I'm talking about [in my novel], having people weighed and charting the areas of the country where people are more overweight. This is very scary. It's basically taking away most of their liberties.'

Assuming that overweight individuals are always unhealthy is "obsolete thinking," said Zellman. She explained that a "fat" person can be in good health, while a thin person could be the opposite.

She wanted FatLand to show how "fat" people are just like anyone else, and that they have the same joys and sadness in life as anyone else.

"If you place people in a liand [where] they're not discriminated against, they'll go about the business of living just like anybody else, and they'll do just fine," said Zellman.

Read the entire article here.

"Pro-health laws" lead to size acceptance sanctuary in new novel FatLand

New Jersey author Frannie Zellman's fantasy inspired by current events

NASHVILLE, TN--In the near future "anti-obesity" initiatives in the United States become so oppressive that people seeking freedom over their bodies establish a new country, Fat Acceptance Territory Lease Accession Non Dated--FATLAND. Or they do in the novel by that name just released by Pearlsong Press.

In FatLand, life is good and scales are forbidden. Free from the hatred and discrimination of the Other Side, FatLanders have built productive lives. But as the book (first of a planned trilogy by New Jersey author Frannie Zellman) unfolds, a group of FatLanders and freedom fighters on the Other Side face forces threatening the health and happiness of all.

FatLand may be fantasy, but its premise is reflected in real-world news. In 2008 alone, anti-fat initiatives in the U.S. have included Mississippi state legislators sponsoring a bill forbidding restaurants from serving fat people and Alabama's State Employees' Insurance Board approving a plan to charge $25 more a month for insurance to "overweight" employees who fail to "progress" in losing weight. Meanwhile, Japan launched a waistline-measuring campaign in which those larger than the narrowly defined ideal and have "weight-related" conditions are given dieting advice and "further re-education" if they do not lose weight.

As Zellman noted in a recent interview with Pearlsong publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D., all these and other "anti-obesity" initiatives have been enacted even though there is no safe, effective, permanent means of making fat people thin. Such initiatives have increased the stigma and discrimination experienced by fat Americans and further stressed people of all sizes struggling with eating disorders.

Frannie Zellman received her M.A. in creative writing from Boston University in 1980. She is a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) and has taught writing workshops for people of size. FatLand ($19.95, 212 pages, original trade paperback) is her first novel.

FatLand is available from Amazon.com and other online retailers, as well as directly from the publisher at www.pearlsong.com.

A Pearlsong Conversation with Frannie Zellman, author of FatLand

Missed the live event? Catch the replay!

Listen to and/or download an mp3 recording of today's Pearlsong Conversation with psychologist /publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. and FatLand author Frannie Zellman here. (Right click on the link and "save as" to download.)

Zellman discusses why she became involved in fat rights/acceptance/liberation activism, whether we need a FatLand, and why we need fat fiction and poetry.

Zellman received her MA in creative writing from Boston University in 1980. She is a member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) and has taught writing workshops for people of size. She is the editor of Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society, which will be published by Pearlsong Press in May 2009. She is an active member of the Fat Poets' Society and recently started an online fiction writing group called the Fat Fiction Forum.

Join a Pearlsong Conversation -- Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 with FatLand author Frannie Zellman

Join us on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central for a conversation with Frannie Zellman, author of the newest book from Pearlsong Press: FatLand.

Zellman will discuss whether we need a FatLand, why she became involved in fat rights/acceptance/liberation activism, and why we need fat fiction and fat poetry.

The event is the first in a series of monthly teleconference call in which publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. chats with a Pearlsong author or others (and possibly YOU!) in a free teleconference call.

To download a PDF with the call-in details, go here, click on the "Pearlsong Conversations" button, and go through the ordering process. You will not be charged anything unless you choose to purchase FatLand or another of our books at the same time, in which case you will be charged the normal cost of the book plus any shipping.

To read an excerpt from FatLand, click here.

If time & technology permit, participants will be able to ask questions and join in the conversation. Questions can also be emailed before the event to Peggy Elam at peggyelam @ pearlsong.com. (Please put "Pearlsong Conversation question" as the subject of your email.)

Each teleconference will be recorded and the recording made available for listening or downloading at the Pearlsong website. There is no fee for the call, but you may incur normal charges associated with your long-distance service.

Take a peek at FatLand, the novel by Frannie Zellman

In the near future the Pro-Health Laws of the United States of America have become so oppressive that people seeking freedom over their bodies have established a new country: FatLand. In FatLand, life is good and scales are forbidden. Free from the hatred and discrimination of the Other Side, FatLanders have built happy, productive lives. But not everyone is flourishing.

Ava came to FatLand after her lover died from bariatric surgery. She threw herself into work, believing she was immune from love. Then she saw a beautiful dancer and lost her heart again.

Alvin and Reevie thought that by living in FatLand they could give their children and each other a chance for a life free of sizeim and racism. They didn't count on their lovely twin daughters' curiosity and yearning for excitement and danger.

Joann and Ed carved out what they thought was a peaceful existence. But their bright children are anything but happy in the well-appointed home and tranquil life their parents had created in FatLand.

Well-to-do, attractive and sophisticated, Dara and Sandor thought they could make the FatLand Board dance to whatever tune they wished. But their way of life and beliefs are about to be tested more severely than either of them could have imagined.

Dreaming and determined, luscious Margaret fled to FatLand after her rich, powerful paramour married a thin woman he didn't care for. She made a deal with her devil so she could publish the top flight newspaper FatLand badly needed. But then the devil called in the cards.

Soon these FatLanders and the freedom fighters on the Other Side will face forces threatening the health and happiness of all.

Read an excerpt of the novel here.

FatLand is being published by Pearlsong Press in January 2009. Purchase an early copy of the original trade paperback now from the Pearlsong Press online store -- we're offering free shipping within the U.S. for copies purchased before Jan. 15, 2008. (Buy extra copies for holiday gifting!)