It’s time for our weekly roundup of tweets from or about BIPOC, LGBTQIAP+, and/or otherwise underrepresented writers, reviewers, and list curators. If you don’t already, please follow these accounts and be sure to always retweet the original post.
A week in Romancelandia is approximately three earth years long, which means that we sometimes lose track of important stories. We got caught up in HQN’s announcement and failed to mention the closing of Less Than Three Press in last week’s roundup, and we are deeply sorry.
As @TGStoneButch says, LT3 is “one of the only publishers regularly publishing trans and non-binary romance written by trans and non-binary authors [and] also asexual spectrum romance by asexual spectrum authors.” This loss is a huge blow to the romance community.
In advance of the RITAs ceremony, Jen delved into the problems the awards have with diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Courtney Milan talks about why training alone will not be enough to rid RITA judges of implicit bias.
“Readers, look beyond the easy excuse of not being able to relate to stories not centered on your own experiences.” This is just a clip of LaQuette’s powerful speech at the RITAs ceremony. When RWA posts the full video, listen to her words.
The ceremony made RWA history on Friday by awarding its first competitive RITAs to two African American writers and its first to a South Asian recipient.
RWA also honored trailblazers in romance from 1970 to present day. The website is worth checking out for key texts in Romancelandia 101.
Mel Blue shared her reflections on the ceremony and the atmosphere of hope.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but there can be no direction but forward.
The Ripped Bodice announced how they will be moving forward last week—with Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction, which will be judged by an amazing diverse and inclusive panel.
And while half of Romancelandia was together in NYC, the other half followed along on Twitter and also took part in #notRWA19.
Mina V. Esguerra talked about #RomanceClass, a community of Filipino authors of romance in English and their readers.
Charlotte explored capitalism in contemporary romance. Be sure to check out #notRWA19 for more threads.
One thing that stood out at the #RWA19 panels was the continued usage of “hero” and “heroine.”
And we’re over it.
But not all is bad in Romancelandia! We critique because we love reading about love. So here’s a list of new releases by WOC for you to add to your TBR.
Book Riot also posted a list of queer New Adult books.
And some of our favorite romance writers are on this list of upcoming Latinx book releases.
We hope you have a week filled with books and joy and all the good things! And if we have missed anything important, our DMs and contact form are open.