This guest post is from Elizabeth Held. Elizabeth is a reader and writer living in Washington, D.C. She co-moderates East City Bookshop’s Really Reading Romance book club and writes the book recommendation newsletter What To Read If.
There’s a seven-year-old tweet from romance writer Alisha Rai that Jen Prokop, romance critic and co-host of Fated Mates, thinks about a lot.
Prokop shared the anecdote at the recent Literature of Hope conference held at Yale University. As I heard laughter and saw nods of appreciation across the auditorium, I thought — again — I am with my people.
For a weekend in September, authors, critics, scholars and fans like me discussed the past and future of the genre, culminating in a keynote conversation between romance legend Beverly Jenkins and cultural critic Roxane Gay about romance, race, publishing and where they intersect.
As someone who regularly complains about the short-thrift romance (and genre fiction generally) receives from the Literary World, seeing these conversations — at an Ivy League university no less — was both crazy and completely rewarding.
It wasn’t just me. Dr. Kimuli Kasara, a professor at Columbia University, started to laugh on stage as she thought about being a 12-year-old at a religious school secretly reading romance novels, the idea that she would someday be at Yale talking about the genre was “completely wild.”
A running theme throughout the conference — as in Romancelandia more broadly over the past decade — are efforts to bring more diversity to the genre. Ripped Bodice founder Bea and Leah Koch talked about their State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing report, which has shown slow but steady progress. Anecdotally, they added they hear far less often from White customers that they “can’t connect with characters of color” since they first opened in 2016.
Still, sales numbers indicate there’s a way to go. Jenkins’ trailblazing career was a recurring topic of the conference, with scholars and authors alike praising her for bringing along other writers with her.
But, as the icon reminded us, “A lot of people love Ms. Bev, but not a lot of people buy Ms. Bev,” adding that she’s never made the New York Times Best Seller list. (Jenkins, filled with pithy one-liners, is a reporter’s dream. She also said, “It’s always better to be a blessing than a bitch,” a quote I’m considering getting cross-stitched to display.)
Roxane Gay, author of the New York Times Bestselling essay collection Bad Feminist, said that while publishing can be “ruthless at times…. [it’s] been very good to me, but they’ve also benefited greatly from book sales.”
And, now, Gay is working on a romance novel with Channing Tatum (no, really). While she didn’t share any details of that at the Yale Conference, she did offer some details on her favorite tropes.
“For me, it’s the push and pull,” she said. “I love that. Like ‘I’ve moved back to my small town to run my family’s Christmas tree farm. My childhood enemy is there and oh my God, he looks so good.’”
She’s also a fan of royal romances, pointing to Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals and Runaway Royals series.
“Give me a royal who’s angry and oppressed in their own very wealthy way. Oh my God put it in my veins,” she said.
In addition to Gay, Kasura, Koch, Jenkins and Prokop, panelists included authors Sarah MacLean, Adrianna Herrera and Eloisa James. The name of the conference — The Literature of Hope — has stayed with me in the weeks since I went.
Romance novels are a reminder that a happy ending is achievable — for anyone — willing to fight for it, whether that means overcoming internal obstacles or literally battling kidnappers.
And, now, I think we’re seeing that sense of hope applied to the genre itself. Readers, like the students at Yale who organized the conference, are fighting to see the genre respected by academics, and, critically, fans and writers are working to create a more inclusive genre, where all people can see themselves reflected in love stories.
So kudos to the conference organizers for helping me spend a weekend with my people — and for renewing my sense of hope about the future of a genre I love.
This was lovely to hear about!
That sounds wonderful! What a great line up of speakers. Is this going to be a recurring event?
As someone who, back in 2015, finally felt open enough to admit I read romance because I heard SB Sarah on NPR, I totally get the feeling of wanting literary validation. This sounds like a wonderful weekend of literary hope and happiness!
@EmilyC: That is not the first time I’ve heard that my appearance on NPR helped people read romance more happily, or helped them find the site, and it is so astonishing and validating for me every time. Thank you!
How , as a Yale graduate (1971) did I not know about this conference?!?! So many of our current writers are so much better than current literary writers. Mysteries, spy novels,
Sex, history, great characters. I have been reading
Romance novels since Barbara Cartland. I would spend
All day at home to read the latest Kathleen Woodiwiss
And her kidnapped harem novels. So glad to see
It all now out in the open.
What a wonderful post! Thank you, Elizabeth.
What an awesome recap! Thank you Elizabeth, for sharing. I was so sad to miss the conference, especially with such a stellar line up of writing stars.
Thank you for this post. I live in Washington, DC but had no idea that East City Books existed and, now that I know, I’ll have to visit.
As for the Yale Conference, one year the Library of Congress National Book Festival had a panel of romance authors, including Ms. Jenkins, moderated by (IIRC), Sarah MacLean. It seemed to be a good sign that Romance was gaining respectability among the larger literary world but, sadly, it hasn’t been repeated.
Saving lives one stress relief novel at a time, indeed. Discovering queer romance novels blew open my world. They are getting easier to find at libraries (depending on the system) which is so exciting. Fun recap. It sounds like yall had a hoot and a holler.