Deirdre Donahue of USA Today profiled romance novelists Eloisa James and Julia Quinn, and feature some random bloggers (us!) in an article about how smart women read and write romance.
Oh holy crap, I can’t tell you how proud I am to be part of romance-positive coverage.
Looking at the intelligent and fierce women who write and read our favorite genre, Donahue’s piece lets James, Quinn, and Harlequin CEO Donna Hayes speak for themselves. Their quotes are frank and supportive of the genre – and reveal what we’ve known all along: that we’re clever, savvy, and so damn intelligent. The print version includes even more pictures – including us! Woo hoo!
My very favorite quote illustrates and completely smacks the hell out of all those insults we deal with as romance fans:
“When I saw the invitation to speak at Princeton, I said, ‘Holy crap, we have arrived,’ ” says Regis, 56, an English professor at McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., and author of the seminal text, A Natural History of the Romance Novel….
Today, in addition to his poetry classes, [DePaul University English professor Eric] Selinger teaches courses on the romance genre.
Is it awkward to be a man doing so?
Oh no, Selinger says. His gender makes his life much easier. “Nobody thinks I’m a spinster or trapped in a bad marriage, or I’m betraying feminism,” he says. “People don’t judge me as much.”
I suppose it’s a bit too much to hope that after more kickass article like this one, readers and writers of romance who are women won’t be judged much either.
Either way – this article is one to be proud of. The print version is on newsstands and outside hotel room doors all over America right now, and that kind of ubiquity plus positive romance coverage = win win win. Well played, Ms. Donahue. Well played.
