Sam van Zweden on ‘Eating With My Mouth Open’: First Book Club

“I started to interrogate my own relationship with food and realise that it wasn’t so simple.”

Each month we celebrate an Australian debut release of fiction or non-fiction in the Kill Your Darlings First Book Club. For February that debut is Eating With My Mouth Open by Sam van Zweden, out now from NewSouth Books.

Eating With My Mouth Open is a personal and cultural exploration of food, memory, and hunger that dissects wellness culture and all its flaws, and considers the true meaning of nourishment within the broken food system we live in. Not holding back from difficult conversations about mental illness, weight, and wellbeing, Sam van Zweden advocates for body politics that are empowering, productive, and meaningful.

Thank you to Yarra Libraries for partnering with us for this live event. Our March First Book Club title will be Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen (UQP). Our theme song is Broke for Free’s ‘Something Elated’.

Editor’s Note: This conversation touches on mental illness and disordered eating. If you need help, support is available from the Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 4673, or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Further reading:

Read Ellen Cregan’s review of Eating With My Mouth Open in our February books Roundup.

Read Sam’s Shelf Reflection on her reading habits and the writing that inspires her.

Buy a copy of the book from Brunswick Bound.

Buy a copy of KYD‘s short fiction anthology New Australian Fiction 2020.

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