All photos by the author
More than 300 writers, publishers, and fans of romance mill around the lobby of Melbourne's luxe Park Hyatt hotel. It's almost all women, 95 percent I'm told. The only men I can spot are the photographer and the guy behind the lighting booth.Everyone is a little worse for wear, mingling over much-needed coffee after last night's gala ball. No fewer than ten people tell me I missed out big time on the gorgeous half-naked buff butlers who were serving drinks.
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We've developed ways to talk intelligently about so many parts of pop culture. Why when we can distinguish between "smart" blockbusters and Fantastic Four, does romance all get lumped in together and dismissed as trash?No one at RWA seems surprised that books written by female authors for female readers are trivialized. Even in a time when feminism is being discussed by more people, in a more nuanced way than ever before, writer and biographer Jennifer Kloester tells me that in literature, "Value is correlated with having male readers.""We need to make room in our literary culture for something that really values the feminine," conference director Cate Bell says. "We need to be telling women's stories through women's eyes. That's the only way to change a lot of our stereotypical views of what women are and what they can and can't do."As I head home, backpack full of books "I just have to read," there's one thing I'm still wondering about. Why do romance writers even care what mainstream literature thinks of them?They make more money and have more passionate fans than most fiction authors. And while mainstream publishers are struggling with dwindling readership and revenue, romance is generating well over a billion dollars a year. The mainstream, it seems, should instead be taking a page out of their book.Follow Maddison on Twitter.Writer and biographer Jennifer Kloester tells me that in literature, "Value is correlated with having male readers."