The Pearlsong Letter

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.

Charlie Lovett reads from and talks about The Program at the Southern Festival of Books

Charlie Lovett read from and talked about his suspense novel The Program ("chick lit meets Stephen King") at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN last weekend. Listen to an edited recording of his talk here. (Click on the link to listen online, or right click on the link and "save as" to download the mp3 recording.)

Lovett shared the 9-10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 11 hour on the festival's schedule with mystery novelist Jennie Bentley, author of Fatal Fixer-Upper (A Do-It-Yourself Mystery) . Bentley is a Nashville Realtor ("Jennie Bentley" is a pseudonym -- her real name is Bente Gallagher.) Bentley's portion of the program is not included in the audio recording.

Lovett is the Writer in Residence at Summit School in Winston-Salem, NC and the author of 11 nonfiction books, including several on Lewis Carroll, and more than a dozen children's plays. The Program (Pearlsong Press, May 2008) is his first novel.

Bunkie Lynn, Pat Ballard & Peggy Elam to present "Tell Me Why I Should Love My Body" at the Southern Festival of Books Oct. 10, 2008

Hendersonville,TN humorist/author Bunkie Lynn, Nashville, TN author Pat Ballard & I are presenting "Tell Me Why I Should Love My Body" at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct.10 in Room 29 of Legislative Plaza during the Southern Festival of Books in downtown Nashville. We are also sharing a booth at the Festival under the Pearlsong Press banner.

There is no charge for admission to the Festival or any of its events. See http://www.tn-humanities.org/festival/sessions.php for the full festival schedule.

Lynn is the author of The Big Girls' Guide to Life: A Plus-Sized Jaunt Through a Body-Obsessed World (a parody of self-help books) & the novel A Comedy of Heirs (Ladybug Publishing). Ballard is a romance novelist whose books feature Big Beautiful Heroines (or, as I like to put it, where the fat chick gets the guy). Pearlsong Press recently published her first nonfiction book, 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are), in which she shares the steps she created and used to heal the damage from an eating disorder and years of dieting. (10 Steps also contains what the author of Eating Disorders for Dummies has called the best collection of body-positive inspirational quotes you'll find anywhere.)

Lynn will start the presentation with humor, then I will address the "why" of loving one's body and Ballard will discuss the "how." Lynn & Ballard will be available to sign books after the talk, as well as at our booth during the Festival weekend. Their books will be available for sale at the Festival's bookstore/book tables as well as at our booth. I'll also be selling all of Ballard's other books and the rest of the Pearlsong Press catalog at our booth. Lynn, Ballard & I are also establishing a body-positive blog at www.loveyourbodyblog.com. For more info about Pearlsong Press books, see www.pearlsong.com.

Just to have some of my own writing to sell (since I've been so busy publishing other people's books I haven't been working on my own :-), I will have a few limited-edition illustrated letterpress prints of my poem "Sacred Space" to sell at the booth. The prints were published by Middle Tennessee State University's Tulip Poplar Press. The poem also ran in Psychobits, the newsletter of the Nashville Psychotherapy Institute, a couple of years ago.

Also...another Pearlsong Press author, Charlie Lovett of Winston-Salem, NC, is appearing at the Festival at 9 a.m. Saturday morning (Room 31) in a panel entitled "Better or Deader? Thrillers About Paths to Perfection." Lovett's novel The Program also has a body-positive message, and has been highly recommended by Library Journal.

So....feel free to share this post with colleagues, clients, friends & family who might enjoy, appreciate or just plain benefit from size- and body-acceptance oriented offerings at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville next weekend. And come visit us at booth #20 on Legislative Plaza! During our Friday afternoon presentation, the Pearlsong Press booth will be staffed by Nashville author Anne Richardson Williams, author of the memoir Unconventional Means: The Dream Down Under.

Reader praise for The Program by Charlie Lovett

Reader K.C. Huff praises Charlie Lovett's novel The Program in a five-star review at Amazon.com:

Loved this book. Couldn't put it down once I started. I initially enjoyed it because of the premise -- the idea you could go someplace and get thin instantly. Upon further reading, the intricate story is revealed. I wasn't disappointed with the ending which I was worried would be weak. Highly recommend!

Charlie Lovett to sign The Program at Winston-Salem, N.C. Borders bookstore Sept.20, 2008

Charlie Lovett will sign copies of his first novel, The Program, at the Winston-Salem, N.C. Borders Books store on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008.

Charlie Lovett to present at Bookmarks Festival in Winson-Salem, N.C. Sept. 13, 2008

Charlie Lovett , author of The Program, will be a presenter at the Bookmarks Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Sept. 13, 2008.

The Program was published by Pearlsong Press in May 2008 and was "highly recommended" by  Library Journal, which called it "a lively first novel."

Bookmarks features national, regional and local authors and is held in Historic Bethabara Park.

Charlie Lovett appearance at Vermont College of Fine Arts

Charlie Lovett recently gave a reading of his first novel, The Program, to about 50-60 people at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier, VT. The audience were teachers and students in the college's MFA Creative Writing Program.

The following morning (July 2) about 20 people attended an informal discussion with "visiting writer" Lovett.

Copies of The Program are on sale at the college's bookstore for about a week.

The Program was published by Pearlsong Press in May 2008.

Library Journal highly recommends The Program by Charlie Lovett

The March 1, 2008 issue of Library Journal contains a brief review of Charlie Lovett's first novel, The Program, which will be published by Pearlsong Press in May 2008.

The Program, a New York City weight-loss clinic, guarantees an immediately svelte body for anyone with $5000 and a few hours of time. Karen Sumner, a young and overweight reporter, gets a chance to prove her journalistic worth by going undercover when it becomes apparent that there's something seriously wrong with The Program. A lively first novel. Highly recommended.

Read an excerpt from the first chapter here.

Take advantage of the special offer of free shipping within the U.S. on advance sales of The Program, and order your copy now!