Fat Girl Dancing

Kris Kneen is quite the force in Australian literature. Fat Girl Dancing, their latest memoir, confirms Kneen as an outstanding writer. This is a memoir of fatness, and Kneen’s journey with their body, both in terms of gaining and losing weight and in finding acceptance of appearance, gender and sexuality. This is to put it simply; it is unlike anything else that addresses these topics.

Central to Kneen’s journey is their return to painting, and their desire to capture their fat body as beautiful and powerful in the medium. Throughout the book there are also close up photographs of Kneen’s body – large and round, but often close enough to not be sure exactly where on the body this could be. It’s 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. Naturally, with discussion of bodies and eating, Fat Girl Dancing contains numerous descriptions of disordered eating and mental health struggles, and includes careful analysis of diet culture. The book is so much more than this, however, and shouldn’t be reduced to being just about overcoming body image issues. Particularly compelling are Kneen’s searches for the right activity for their body. At first they hope that enjoying being in water means they will like diving. Later, they try to get into hiking, hoping to keep up with their partner. Instead, they land on the wonderful world of burlesque.

I could go on about this book – it’s my top local nonfiction of the year so far. This is essential reading for anyone interested in bodies, diet culture, queerness, and feminism.