Winners: RWA Academic Research Grant 2013

Laura Vivanco

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2013 Romance Writers of America Academic Research Grant, who are:

An Goris, Ph.D., University of Leuven
Is There an Author in this Genre?
An Goris was awarded the academic research grant to support her book project, "Is There an Author in this Genre?" This book will examine the complete works of five contemporary romance authors and explore how the romance novelist contributes "to the institutional and paratextual evolutions of the romance genre" and in this process "takes on the characteristics of the individual 'author' . . . more traditionally associated with high literature and art."

and

Dr. Jayashree Kamble, La Guardia Community College
Making Meaning in Romance: an Epistemology of Popular Romance Fiction
RWA awarded partial funding to Jayashree Kamble's "Making Meaning in Romance: an Epistemology of Popular Romance Fiction." Kamble's work has the potential to advance and expand the study of the romance novel significantly by taking a cross-disciplinary approach and bringing "popular romance scholarship into dialogue with the broader field of cultural studies." This work promises an "interpretation of both canonical romance authors . . . as well as a powerful approach to the interpretation of any romance novel."