Pearlsong Press is an independent publishing company dedicated to providing books and other resources that promote liberation of body, mind, and spirit and support Health At Every Size (R). It was founded by Peggy Elam, Ph.D., a Nashville, TN-based licensed psychologist and former Emotional Health expert for iVillage.com.
What, you may ask, does the name “Pearlsong” mean?
Pearls are glorious, glowing, organic gemstones. They are formed when a piece of grit or sand or other abrasive, annoying, or even dangerous substance enters an oyster and triggers its protective response. The substance is coated with shimmering, opalescent nacre (“mother of pearl”), the coats eventually building up to produce a beautiful gem. The self-healing response of the oyster transforms suffering into a thing of beauty.
Something to sing about, hmm?
The pearl-creating process reflects Dr. Elam’s desire both as a psychologist/psychotherapist and writer/editor/publisher to move outside a pathological or “disease” based model of “mental health” and “mental illness” and into a more integrative and transcendent perspective of life, health, and well-being. Out of suffering into joy.
Want to join us?
OUR MISSION & VISION
Press endorses Health At Every Size, and promises that every book and product we publish or offer for sale is either fat-positive or at least NOT fat-negative.
We won’t guarantee that all our novels’ heroes and heroines are Big and Beautiful like Pat Ballard‘s romantic heroines, but they won’t be “fattist,” unless that’s clearly written as a character flaw.
Similarly, some fiction and nonfiction, such as Anne Richardson Williams‘s spiritual travelogue Unconventional Means, won’t deal specifically with size, weight, or health issues, but will not center thinness as an ideal.