Romance Writers of America

It started with a happily ever after.

In 1972, Avon Books published "The Flame and the Flower," by Kathleen Woodiwiss - a hefty historical romance that traded chastity for steamy sex scenes. It arrived in the thick of the sexual revolution, and readers loved it: It was an instant bestseller that's credited with birthing the modern romance genre.  Read more

If it hadn't been for the pandemic and the near impossibility of visiting Vivian Stephens in person, I'm not sure I would have been so attuned to her voice. It is gay and mellifluous; she always sounded delighted to hear from me, a reaction most reporters are not accustomed to.  Read more

Romance Writers of America is attempting to turn the page on a damaging racism row, abolishing its top literary prizes and replacing them with awards in a new format it hopes will show "happily ever afters are for everyone" and not just white protagonists.  Read more

A white romance novelist's ethics complaint against the author Courtney Milan for calling her book a "racist mess" led to the censure of Milan and sparked an uproar across the publishing world. Now the novelist, Kathryn Lynn Davis, says that her original complaint about the professional harm she suffered was not accurate.

IN 2013, the Romance Writers of America (RWA) estimated that sales of romantic novels amounted to $1.08 billion, and accounted for 13% of adult fiction consumed that year, outselling science-fiction, mystery and literary novels. In the five years to 2015 in Britain alone, romance and erotic fiction sold 39.8m physical books worth £178.09m.  Read more