for letting me read a tiny part of my book at their Fatties: Politics of Volume 2018 conference to a bunch of hardcore fat activists – one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever had to do.To the fat activists in this world who endure attacks and abuse from all angles and yet who do their important work selflessly. They are fighting for me and you and the little fat babies being born today. They are making it easier for us to exist. For that, I am endlessly grateful.
To Mark Watson – For pushing me to write this book, for helping me to gather my thoughts surrounding it, for helping me to write it, for being there throughout the entire process, for being my dictionary, my thesaurus, my mentor, my (secret and unpaid) sort-of editor, my rock, for teaching me about hyphens and apostrophes and the word ‘epitome’. Thank you. There are a lot of things which I could not have done without you and this book is one of them.
To Andrea Storgaard Brok – Thank you for feedback and criticism on the book. Thank you for deciding to study Russian almost a decade ago. You didn’t just make me a better person, you made me a happier person, and you continue to inspire me on a daily basis. I would not be who I am today if it wasn’t for you – and I really fucking love myself, actually. And you. I love you a lot, Andrea.
To my mother – for laying the groundwork and showing me that it’s better to be different. When I said to my mother, ‘You know, I’m glad you always took my side when I was arguing with teachers at school,’ she said, ‘Well, of course. I wouldn’t raise you to be someone who respected authority!’ and for that I am incredibly grateful. To my sister – for making me proud and for making me laugh. To my best friend, Ina – without whom I am half.
To my much-needed and much-appreciated therapist, Claudia C., thank you for forcing me to talk about the book even when I deemed it unnecessary (‘I’m FINE, I SWEAR!’), when it turned out that it wasn’t.
To my editor Sarah Thickett and everyone at 4th Estate for believing in me and making this book possible. And to Charlotte Atyeo for helping me over the finish line.
To Political for letting me read a tiny part of my book at their Fatties: Politics of Volume 2018 conference to a bunch of hardcore fat activists – one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever had to do.
To Mollie Cronin – also known as @art.brat.comics on Instagram – thank you for your wonderful illustrations throughout this book. A little dream come true for me.
To Dawn Elizabeth Williams – for the title Happy Fat.
To Cat Pausé, for understanding when I needed you to understand. For being my friend.
To Chris Quaile, my manager, for fighting my corner, even though I’m incredibly high maintenance, I don’t do budgets and make ludicrous demands all the time.
To Matilda Ibini and Stephanie Yeboah for sharing your experiences with me for this book and for enduring my long, rambling WhatsApp messages.
Thank you to Dina Amlund for sharing your knowledge with me so I could put it in this book, and thank you for helping me out when all my words scrambled together and I didn’t know right from wrong.
And a very special thank you to Kivan Bay. My highly efficient, super-intelligent, hard-working, hilarious, thorough researcher: someone I am proud to call my friend. Thank you for being there when it felt like no one else understood and thank you for still being around. Thank you for researching for this book. Thank you for sharing your findings with me. Thank you for educating me and for making sure I was always going in the right direction. I am lucky to know you and the world is lucky to have you.