If you’re a romance reader thinking of attending the SWF, these panels and workshops might be of interest. I’ve put together a selection of festival events that I think would intersect very easily with romance. We don’t have to be obnoxious about it-we just have to demonstrate that we’re there, we’re listening, and that romance fiction is relevant.

And the easiest way I can think of to be visible at the festival is to attend panels and ask questions that speak to the romance genre. There would be no compelling reason for SWF to incorporate romance panels if the organisers feel that the audience would not support them. So I think one of the easiest and most effective things we can do as romance readers is to attend the festival and be visible. We’ve been brainstorming ways to increase the level of awareness for romance at SWF. The amount of support we have received on Twitter, Facebook and here on the blog tells me that the support for romance is strong. If you haven’t read Gabby’s open letter to the SWF, it’s a great place to start. If you’ve been following our Twitter feed over the last few days, you’ll know that romance readers have been let down-yet again-by the Sydney Writers’ Festival, which features a program that completely ignores romance authors. I’m thinking your romance programming (or lack thereof) sucks.

The yearning by kate belle