NEW YORK, NY – On June 3rd, New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons announced The Fatness won in the humor category of the annual IndieReader Discovery Awards (IRDAs). The announcement was made at BookExpo America (BEA), a major publishing trade show.

This is the second literary award the satirical novel has garnered! The Fatness won a silver International Book Publishing Association (IBPA) Benjamin Franklin award for humor in April this year.

“The books that won the IRDAs this year are not just great indie books; they are great books, period. We hope that our efforts via the IRDAs ensure that they receive attention from the people who matter most. Potential readers,” said Amy Edelman, founder of IndieReader.

Judges for the awards included notable publishers, agents, publicists and bloggers. The Fatness received the following verdict from IndieReader’s reviewers: “The Fatness is a story of socialism gone wrong, set amid a plausible backdrop with witty characters who will steal your heart and snag your cheeseburger, if you’re not careful.”

I’d like to thank the professionals who helped me put the book together. The incredible talents of my editor, Cal Chayce of Wording.ca, the fabulous cover design of Taryn Dufault and the exact proofing of Pauline Nolet all contributed to the book’s success. And don’t forget all my beta readers, friends and family who also helped me shape The Fatness into something approaching good shape. You can read about them in the acknowledgements of the novel.

And of course, you should get yourself a copy! You can buy it here.

Actually, it's pretty cool. The Fatness won a Silver in the humor category of the 30th annual IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award™

These awards aren’t well-known generally, but they’re quite prestigious and valuable indicators of quality. The Independent Book Publishing Association (IBPA) has more than 3,000 members, and is the largest publishing trade association in the U.S. This year’s contest had 1,500 entries.

Full story here, including my thanks to everyone who worked on the book. Buy the book at Amazon!

The Fatness got some great publicity from The London Free Press yesterday! A bit more detail about the writing of the book and why it's an important topic in this article:

Satirist Takes a Bite Out of Obesity Epidemic

There's three copies up for grabs -- enter to win a paperback version of The Fatness, a satire about concentration camps for fat people and bureaucracy gone mad. (A love story.)

My new book is live! It's a satire about concentration camps for fat people and bureaucracy gone mad. (Don't worry, it's a love story.)

You can find it on Amazon and other bookstores now!

If you're interested in hearing me read from it, here I am reading the first and fourth chapters now.

I did chapter two here.