The Pearlsong Letter

A Pearlsong Conversation with Charlie Lovett, author of The Fat Lady Sings

Update 7-17-2011: Click here to listen to or download the hour-long recording of the Conversation with Charlie Lovett.

Join Pearlsong publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. on Sunday, July 17 at 5 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Central for a teleconference chat with Charlie Lovett, author of the new fat-positive Young Adult novel The Fat Lady Sings.

Other Pearlsong authors may be on the call as well. All participants will be able to ask questions and comment as time and technology permit.

Sassy, irreverent Aggie Stockdale should have gotten the lead in her high school's production of Hello Dolly! It's her dream role; she's had the part memorized since she was ten; and she and Roger Morton, who's playing the male lead, definitely had chemistry in the audition. But Aggie isn't just a talented actress, writer, and athlete. She's also the fattest girl in the senior class.

What happens after she checks the cast list for the musical will hurl Aggie into an unexpected journey of tears, friendship, jealousy, revenge, Oreos, and lots and lots of theatre. She'll discover hidden talents and new friends; she'll survive a daunting audition and revel in a thrilling opening night; she'll search for love, inspiration, help with her math homework, and the perfect closing number; and her emotional ride won't be over 'til the fat lady sings.

The Fat Lady Sings is available in both original trade paperback and ebook format for ages 13 & up.

Kirkus Reviews (April 1, 2011) says, "Unlike most [story] arcs about fat teens,  this one never equates emotional growth with weight loss; Aggie's refreshingly non-symbolic fatness  is just part of her....Given the ratings of Glee  and the emerging popularity of teen lit combining queer themes and musicals, this should be a hit."

"A palpable hit!" says professional actor Andrew Sellon. "Charlie Lovett's new book is saucy, smart, heartfelt, & very funny. The author must have been a teenage theatre lover himself to have captured the offstage "drama" of the teen theatre world so vividly. Fans of Glee, Wicked, & Hairspray will eat this up. There may need to be a sequel, and perhaps—a musical!"

"As a writer and publisher of plays for teens, I greatly appreciate Charlie Lovett's richly developed characters," says Steve Fendrich, publisher, Pioneer Drama Service. "The Fat Lady Sings leads you on a journey of self-acceptance, whether you are a teen or remember what it was like to be one. This book carries its audience of readers to a theatre stage—or perhaps it's a stage of life—and beautifully illustrates how to feel comfortable with yourself, both inside and out."

Charlie Lovett is Writer-in-Residence at Summit School in Winston-Salem, NC. His plays for children have been seen in over 2500 productions in all 50 states and more than 20 foreign countries. He is the founder of the Charlie Lovett Fund for Elementary Drama, which supports theatre productions in elementary schools. He is the author of 11 previous books, including works on Lewis Carrol and the acclaimed memoir Love, Ruth. His first novel, the thriller The Program, was published by Pearlsong Press in 2008. The Fat Lady Sings is his first Young Adult novel.

To receive the teleconference call details (phone number & access code), send an email to pearlsongconversations @ pearlsong.com. The call details will be automatically emailed to you. There is no cost for participating in the Conversation, other than any long distance toll charges that might apply.

The Conversation will be recorded and available for listening or downloading afterward, but we'd love for you to join us "live" if possible!

Click here to go to the Pearlsong Conversations webpage with links to recordings of previous Conversations. Click on the Bookbuzzr widget below to read the first chapter of The Fat Lady Sings and share with friends.

Pearlsong Press supports the New Year's Revolution!

#HAES

On January 1 and throughout the month of January, activists are flooding popular social media with Health At Every Size (HAES) friendly messages instead of the same old weight loss/dieting messages.

HAES is a weight-neutral approach to health and well-being that focuses on positive behaviors and attitudes rather than body size, transcending problems in the weight-centered health paradigm. (Focusing on weight and body size rather than directly on health encourages eating disorders and other dangerous weight-loss practices, including yo-yo weight loss and regain cycles, and encourages discrimination against fat men, women and children.)

The New Year's Revolution Resources Page features Fat Friendly Fiction Authors as well as Non-Fiction Reading. Pearlsong Press is excited to have nine of our authors featured in the Fat Friendly Fiction Authors list, and two more authors and their book featured in the Non-Fiction Reading section. (Perhaps that's no surprise, though, since our mission and vision explicitly celebrates size diversity and promotes Health At Every Size.)

Click on the Bookbuzzr widgets below to sample books by our fat friendly authors. You can also use the "share" feature on the widgets to post the samples on social media sites -- another way to spread the New Year's Revolution! Most of these books are available in original trade paperback as well as ebook format, from our website as well as Amazon.com and other online retailers.

Go to the New Year's Revolution Resources Page for more fat friendly & Health At Every Size related reading recommendations. Buy them, check them out of your local library, or request them via interlibrary loan. Let the publishing and bookselling and library worlds know that there is an audience for fat friendly reading!

And for more fat friendly reading from Pearlsong Press, check out Fat Poets Speak and 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are), as well as the free ebooks from Frannie Zellman and Pat Ballard below.

The Program by Charlie Lovett now available in ebook format

You can now purchase Charlie Lovett's suspense novel The Program in ebook format!

The PDF ebook is available at the Pearlsong Press website and the Mobipocket format ebook is available at Mobipocket.com. Look for The Program in Amazon.com's Kindle format soon. (The trade paperback is already available at Amazon.com, as well as at pearlsong.com and other online retailers.)

Enjoy!

Interview with Charlie Lovett, author of The Program, at BBW Reviews

BBW Reviews has posted an interview with Charlie Lovett, author of the novel The Program. Those who comment on the interview will have a chance of winning a copy of the book, about an evil weight loss clinic and the friends who try to close it down.

Read the interview here. Don't miss Charlie's witty bio at the end of the article!

Charlie Lovett interviewed by More of Me to Love

Charlie Lovett, author of the suspense novel The Program, has an interview posted at the More of Me to Love blog in which he discusses why he wrote about an evil weight-loss clinic, what he's working on now, health at every size and the importance of loving oneself.

Read the interview here.

Join a Pearlsong Conversation on creating fat friendly fiction Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Join Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. and several authors in a free teleconference call at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central Wednesday, August 12, 2009 as we discuss creating and publishing fat friendly fiction. It'll be a continuation of our July 8, 2009 Conversation, with an emphasis on creating fat positive characters.

You can listen to or download an mp3 recording of the July discussion here if you wish. But you don't have to have heard the first call to participate in this one.

We'd love to hear from you! This is your chance to let us know what YOU want to read -- or give feedback to authors and publisher.

We plan for this month's featured Conversationalists to 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;

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;

and Rebecca Fox & William Sherman, authors of Measure By Measure.

Clockwise from top left to right: Pat Ballard, Lynne Murray, Charlie Lovett, Rebecca Fox & William Sherman, Frannie Zellman & Ellen Frankel

Email pearlsongconversations @ pearlsong.com for the call details (phone number, access code, date, time). If you don't feel comfortable speaking up during the teleconference ― which will be recorded ― then you can email your questions or comments to me at peggyelam @ pearlsong.com if you wish.

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.

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.

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.

The Program recommended at Goodreads.com

Charlie Lovett's suspense novel The Program (Pearlsong Press, May 2008) has garnered some glowing reader comments at Goodreads.com. Such as:

 ...if you want to get across the message to women about loving and accepting their normal or large body size and shape, do it with a good story. This book is it!....Great story with some fabulous twists that help keep the action unpredictable until the end. And I absolutely agree with the author about WHO is behind the anorexic body shape movement.

Read all the reviews/comments -- or post your own -- here.