Body

Such a Pretty Face: Writing the (Fat) Body

In this 2-hour nonfiction writing workshop, we’ll focus on storytelling of the body. How do bodies move through the world? How do our bodies tell stories? What do people assume when they look at us and why? We live in a society that shames people who are fat, disabled, or look ‘different’.

They say things like, “They’re bullied because they are fat” instead of “They’re bullied because of intolerance and fear of the fat body.” The basic advice is to go on a diet, but restrictive and obsessive eating within diet culture can impact mental health, happiness, and social wellbeing. But in the here and now, everyone has a body.

What does it feel like to live in yours?

We’ll read excerpts, discuss, and write with some guided prompts in a safe space to examine what it means to live in a larger body including sensory-based exercises, memory, and food.

What Participants Will Take Away

• We’ll endeavor to answer: How do bodies move through the world? How do our bodies tell stories? What do people assume when they look at us and why? What does it feel like to live in yours? How can we write about fat characters/ narrators in full, realistic, complex ways that feel true to life?
• Read multi-genre excerpts as examples.
• Discuss how writers examine fat bodies in literature.
• Write with some guided prompts in a safe space to examine what it means to live in a larger body including sensory-based exercises, memory, and food.

Suitable For all levels.

Choose between:

Sunday, February 19: 7 AM PST / 10 AM EST / 3 PM GMT / 8:30 PM IST

Saturday, March 25: 4 PM PST / 7 PM EST / 5:30 AM IST / 9 AM JST / 11 AM AEDT

About Instructor

Christina Berke is a Los Angeles based writer. She recently interviewed Aubrey Gordon for her Substack, which focuses on anti-diet culture and body positivity. She’s currently working on Well, Body: a memoir on body image, eating disorders, and childhood trauma.

Click here for the Crow Collective Workshop FAQ.

Registration:

Click here for the text version of the February 19 time zone map.

Click here for the text version of the March 25 time zone map.