“Now, you don’t need that cake…”

“You have such a pretty face…”

“Obese workers are less productive…”

These offensive comments all highlight one currently-accepted form of discrimination: fat-shaming.

Author Philip C. Barragan II uses his talents to fight this attitude.

Philip is both an activist and the author of Fatizen 24602, a dystopian novel set sixty years in the future.  In Fatizen 24602, he’s created a world in which the government specifies maximum body-mass index.  Exceeding those numbers is a criminal offense, punishable by imprisonment–and worse, as the government claims the nation is in the grips of a “food shortage”.

Protagonist Delilah Palladino, a beautiful and unapologetic three-hundred-pound wife and mother, finds herself at war with this system.  Not only her family’s well-being, but Delilah’s very life, hang in the balance as she fights back against the bullying ways of her time.

Philip, whose website says he has been an advocate for people of size “for as long as he can remember”, talked about his journey as a writer, the experience of creating some of his main characters in his first novel, Fatizen 24602, (which he and his husband, artist Mason Arrigo, are currently also developing into a graphic novel!)  and most of all, the ways he would like his first published novel to start dialogues about present attitudes towards obesity.

Philip C. Barragan will be reading from his novel, Fatizen 24602, this Friday evening, June 26th, at 7:30 at BookShow, in Highland Park.  He is also scheduled for a reading in mid-July, at Gatsby’s Bookstore in Long Beach.  Here’s the link for more information on his upcoming appearances.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS