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Home / Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference / Schedule / 2019 / Conference Schedule Friday, February 22, 2019 / Fiction for All Sizes with Kelly deVos

Conference Schedule 2019

Conference Schedule 2019

Friday, February 22, 2019, 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

The Big Fat World: Fiction for All Sizes with Kelly deVos

Date(s): Friday, February 22, 2019, 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Location: Traditions, University Club (view map)
Type(s): Presentation
Genre and Form(s): Fiction, Mixed Genre
Tags: Body, Character, Description, Health, Body Positivity, Stereotypes

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About the Session

In the U.S., upwards of 40% of the population is currently classified as overweight and there is a growing cultural awareness of the body positive and fat positive movements. It is becoming increasingly important for fiction writers to fill their worlds with people of a variety of body types. This session will discuss how and why to incorporate people of all sizes into fiction as well as how to deal with and/or eliminate fat stereotypes. We will also discuss explicit versus implicit bias and how to make purposely choices in physical characterizations such that our texts are genuine reflection of our authorial intent.

Meet the Presenter(s)

Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference Fellow 2019 Kelly deVos


Kelly deVos

Kelly deVos is from Gilbert, Arizona, where she lives with her high school sweetheart husband, amazing teen daughter and superhero dog, Cocoa. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University. When not reading or writing, deVos can typically be found with a mocha in hand, bingeing the latest TV shows and adding to her ever-growing sticker collection.

deVos is represented by Kathleen Rushall of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and her work on body positivity has been featured in the New York Times as well as on Vulture, Salon, Bustle and SheKnows. Her debut novel, Fat Girl on a Plane, named one of the “50 Best Summer Reads of All Time” by Reader’s Digest magazine, is available now from HarperCollins. Her second book, Day Zero, is coming in 2019 from Inkyard Press/HarperCollins.


Learn more about Kelly deVos