Part feminist manifesto, part comic book, big beautiful female theory is a carnivalesque exploration of the ways identity is formed through culture, relationships and the weight of society’s expectations. Without falling into a simple recovery narrative, these essays also resonate with humour, which gives a sense of delight and optimism in defiance of difficult circumstances and unfair patriarchal structures.

With breathtaking honesty and fierce wit, Eloise Grills turns her life, her body and her mind into art, confronting what it means to grow up in an increasingly unfathomable world.

About the Author

Eloise Grills is an award-winning writer, comics artist, poet and critic. Her work has been published widely in literary journals and anthologies including Meanjin, The Saturday Paper, The Rumpus, Going Down Swinging, Kill Your Darlings, Sydney Review of Books, The Lifted Brow and Borderless. She has been the recipient of many grants, including competitive funding from the Australia Council, the Copyright Agency and Creative Victoria. Essays from this collection have been recognised in awards including the Melbourne Prize for Literature, Lifted Brow and RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Nonfiction, the Peter Blazey Fellowship, and the Cosmonauts Avenue Nonfiction Prize.

Eloise lives on Dja Dja Wurrung country with her fiancé Jackie, and their two dogs, Ripley and Vince, as well as her mother-in-law, Madeleine, and her dog, Minnie. big beautiful female theory is her first collection of essays.