Awards

• Short-listed for Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, Fiction 2024 (Australia)

Overview

Stella Prize-shortlisted author Kris Kneen examines their body through the lens of art and burlesque in this gorgeous, intimate story of fatness, beauty and self-knowledge. How does a person come to know that they are different from the children around them? To measure themselves against a set normal and find themselves lacking? When did I know that I was plump, and then fat? Fat child, self-denying adolescent, hungry young woman; a body now burgeoning uncontrolled into middle age. Kris Kneen has borne the usual indignities- the confrontations with clothes that won't fasten, with mirrors that defame, with strangers whose gaze judges and dismisses. This is the story of how Kris learned to look unblinkingly at their recalcitrant body, and ultimately found the courage to carry it to freedom. Fat Girl Dancing is a frank, beautiful and triumphant ode to self-respect from one of Australia's most original and acclaimed writers.

Full Product Details

9781922790217

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Muscular, dexterous, and superbly inventive, Fat Girl Dancing is an extraordinary investigation - and expression - of the self.' * Sarah Krasnostein * 'Insightful and poetic, Fat Girl Dancing is a triumph. I am better for having read it, perhaps even a little more human. This book may be Kneen's specific story, but it is for every mind and every body.' * Bri Lee * 'A prism of a book, relighting the world around us, page by page.' * Chloe Hooper * 'With characteristic Kneen heart and originality we are invited into a lifetime hunger for disappearance, a pursuit of love, and moments of perfection. Iconically queer and questioning, with a bobbing cork of generosity. A pleasure to hold.' * Kaya Wilson * 'A story of love that questions perceptions and presumptions with gentle heart, unflinching introspection and lyrical ferocity. Exquisitely shaped and personally provocative.' * Ashley Hay * 'A raw yet lyrical memoir that digs into the hidden parts of ourselves with a tender and unflinching gaze. On each page, Kneen breathes poetry into the pain of having the wrong body.' * Yves Rees * 'Visceral and transportive, Fat Girl Dancing is a triumph of story telling, at once sharp and compassionate, critical yet subjective. In this wildly creative memoir, the body is explored in all its richness, controversy and taboo. This is Kneen at their finest.' * Mirandi Riwoe *

"‘Muscular, dexterous, and superbly inventive, Fat Girl Dancing is an extraordinary investigation - and expression - of the self.’ * Sarah Krasnostein * ‘Insightful and poetic, Fat Girl Dancing is a triumph. I am better for having read it, perhaps even a little more human. This book may be Kneen's specific story, but it is for every mind and every body.’ * Bri Lee * ‘A prism of a book, relighting the world around us, page by page.’ * Chloe Hooper * ‘With characteristic Kneen heart and originality we are invited into a lifetime hunger for disappearance, a pursuit of love, and moments of perfection. Iconically queer and questioning, with a bobbing cork of generosity. A pleasure to hold.’ * Kaya Wilson * 'A story of love that questions perceptions and presumptions with gentle heart, unflinching introspection and lyrical ferocity. Exquisitely shaped and personally provocative.’ * Ashley Hay * 'A raw yet lyrical memoir that digs into the hidden parts of ourselves with a tender and unflinching gaze. On each page, Kneen breathes poetry into the pain of having the “wrong"" body.’ * Yves Rees * 'Visceral and transportive, Fat Girl Dancing is a triumph of story telling, at once sharp and compassionate, critical yet subjective. In this wildly creative memoir, the body is explored in all its richness, controversy and taboo. This is Kneen at their finest.' * Mirandi Riwoe * 'Equally sumptuous as it is heartbreaking, Fat Girl Dancing evokes the sweaty, dreamy, beautiful nightmare of living in a body that the culture at large rejects. Kneen puts it all out there: flesh, insecurity and art, and in doing so creating a work of corporeal neutrality and--most importantly--uncompromising sexiness’ * Eloise Grills * ‘Brave, visceral and original. An unsettling look at bodies in all their frailty...’ * Kristina Olsson * ‘This reckoning of the body is an incredible act of generosity and nerve that will entirely reframe how you understand flesh and fat. A remarkable work by a writer at the height of their powers’. * Benjamin Law * ‘We all have monsters that lurk in the dark - cruel little voices that shame us from the shadows. What might happen if we dared to set them loose? If we dared to set ourselves loose? Fat Girl Dancing is the answer. Kris Kneen has written the book of their body, and - like their body - it refuses to be pinned. This book is wounded, exultant and magnificently alive.’ * Beejay Silcox * 'This is an enthralling and bold self-portrait. Kneen faces the mirror and the body and the world with an unflinching, generous gaze. Her courage and clarity are, of course, absolutely vital to the book’s power, but what makes this memoir really soar is the beauty and precision of her writing. Passionate, honest—a superb book from one of our best writers.’ * Christos Tsiolkas * ‘[Fat Girl Dancing is] more than a memoir – it is a self-portrait, expressing both the self over time in their words, and their body as a still in photos and paintings. This is a deliciously queer book in Kneen’s astute consideration of othered bodies and what it means to fall outside white, heterosexual standards of beauty.’ * Clare Millar, Readings * ‘This is a memoir of the body – Kneen’s own body, but also all bodies that have been othered by thin, cis, white ideals…[Kneen rejects] the simplicity of body positivity and opt[s] instead to explore feelings of confidence and desirability alongside shame and their occasional yearnings to be thin…Fat Girl Dancing experiments with form, using life writing as a broad frame to capture surreal imaginings, thought experiments, dreams and theory…Fat Girl Dancing is a fresh, vital call to arms for all those who have had a gutful of being told their body isn’t good enough, when, as Kneen makes so evident here, it absolutely, spectacularly, is.’ * Guardian *"

"‘Muscular, dexterous, and superbly inventive, Fat Girl Dancing is an extraordinary investigation - and expression - of the self.’ * Sarah Krasnostein * ‘Insightful and poetic, Fat Girl Dancing is a triumph. I am better for having read it, perhaps even a little more human. This book may be Kneen's specific story, but it is for every mind and every body.’ * Bri Lee * ‘A prism of a book, relighting the world around us, page by page.’ * Chloe Hooper * ‘With characteristic Kneen heart and originality we are invited into a lifetime hunger for disappearance, a pursuit of love, and moments of perfection. Iconically queer and questioning, with a bobbing cork of generosity. A pleasure to hold.’ * Kaya Wilson * 'A story of love that questions perceptions and presumptions with gentle heart, unflinching introspection and lyrical ferocity. Exquisitely shaped and personally provocative.’ * Ashley Hay * 'A raw yet lyrical memoir that digs into the hidden parts of ourselves with a tender and unflinching gaze. On each page, Kneen breathes poetry into the pain of having the “wrong"" body.’ * Yves Rees * 'Visceral and transportive, Fat Girl Dancing is a triumph of story telling, at once sharp and compassionate, critical yet subjective. In this wildly creative memoir, the body is explored in all its richness, controversy and taboo. This is Kneen at their finest.' * Mirandi Riwoe * 'Equally sumptuous as it is heartbreaking, Fat Girl Dancing evokes the sweaty, dreamy, beautiful nightmare of living in a body that the culture at large rejects. Kneen puts it all out there: flesh, insecurity and art, and in doing so creating a work of corporeal neutrality and--most importantly--uncompromising sexiness’ * Eloise Grills * ‘Brave, visceral and original. An unsettling look at bodies in all their frailty...’ * Kristina Olsson * ‘This reckoning of the body is an incredible act of generosity and nerve that will entirely reframe how you understand flesh and fat. A remarkable work by a writer at the height of their powers’. * Benjamin Law * ‘We all have monsters that lurk in the dark - cruel little voices that shame us from the shadows. What might happen if we dared to set them loose? If we dared to set ourselves loose? Fat Girl Dancing is the answer. Kris Kneen has written the book of their body, and - like their body - it refuses to be pinned. This book is wounded, exultant and magnificently alive.’ * Beejay Silcox * 'This is an enthralling and bold self-portrait. Kneen faces the mirror and the body and the world with an unflinching, generous gaze. Her courage and clarity are, of course, absolutely vital to the book’s power, but what makes this memoir really soar is the beauty and precision of her writing. Passionate, honest—a superb book from one of our best writers.’ * Christos Tsiolkas * ‘[Fat Girl Dancing is] more than a memoir – it is a self-portrait, expressing both the self over time in their words, and their body as a still in photos and paintings. This is a deliciously queer book in Kneen’s astute consideration of othered bodies and what it means to fall outside white, heterosexual standards of beauty.’ * Clare Millar, Readings * ‘This is a memoir of the body – Kneen’s own body, but also all bodies that have been othered by thin, cis, white ideals…[Kneen rejects] the simplicity of body positivity and opt[s] instead to explore feelings of confidence and desirability alongside shame and their occasional yearnings to be thin…Fat Girl Dancing experiments with form, using life writing as a broad frame to capture surreal imaginings, thought experiments, dreams and theory…Fat Girl Dancing is a fresh, vital call to arms for all those who have had a gutful of being told their body isn’t good enough, when, as Kneen makes so evident here, it absolutely, spectacularly, is.’ * Guardian * ‘A masterpiece of introspective corporeality…Kneen’s sensual prose unpacks problems with seeing fatness as being situated within bodies as opposed to contexts…Fat Girl Dancing is an achingly honest memoir about writing the body, with poignant poetic emphasis on artistic expression, performing femininity and rebelliously refusing to languish…Kneen’s journey will resonate deeply with those whose worlds don’t always fit, people who sparkle blue with joy, and those who know how it feels to experience a non-Euclidean selfhood.’ * Nanci Nott, ArtsHub *"

'Muscular, dexterous, and superbly inventive, Fat Girl Dancing is an extraordinary investigation - and expression - of the self.' * Sarah Krasnostein * 'Insightful and poetic, Fat Girl Dancing is a triumph. I am better for having read it, perhaps even a little more human. This book may be Kneen's specific story, but it is for every mind and every body.' * Bri Lee * 'A prism of a book, relighting the world around us, page by page.' * Chloe Hooper * 'With characteristic Kneen heart and originality we are invited into a lifetime hunger for disappearance, a pursuit of love, and moments of perfection. Iconically queer and questioning, with a bobbing cork of generosity. A pleasure to hold.' * Kaya Wilson * 'A story of love that questions perceptions and presumptions with gentle heart, unflinching introspection and lyrical ferocity. Exquisitely shaped and personally provocative.' * Ashley Hay *

Author Information

Kris Kneen is the award-winning author of memoir-Affection and The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen-and fiction- An Uncertain Grace, Steeplechase, Triptych, The Adventures of Holly White and the Incredible Sex Machine, Wintering, as well as the Thomas Shapcott Award-winning poetry collection Eating My Grandmother. They have written and directed broadcast documentaries for SBS and ABC Television.

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