Romance novels made up of the U.S. fiction market in 2016, second only to general fiction. Some people may think of the genre solely as -published books with a man who looks like Fabio on the cover. But romance fiction encompasses more than this stereotype.
In the last decade, in particular, it has become increasingly open and diverse, featuring work that includes more characters of color, more LGBTQ relationships, and more atypical characters.
Host Frank Stasio talks about the history and evolution of modern romance fiction with , a romance fiction writer and lecturing fellow in the departments of history and religious studies at Duke University. She shares how the second wave of feminism shaped romance fiction in the 1970s. Dubois writes under the pen name .
joins the conversation to detail the changes she has witnessed in the genre, particularly how more authors are playing with gender in their stories. Dev is an author of romantic women鈥檚 fiction, and her upcoming book is 鈥溾�� (William Morrow Paperbacks/2019).
also participates in the discussion to share his experience as the author of gay romance novels. He is also a member of the national board of the . Dev and Dubois will participate in an upcoming conversation about at Duke University in Durham on Friday, Feb. 15 at 12 p.m.
