Past Conference Videos, Current Exhibition Feedback and New Publications

Videos are now freely available of some of the events from last year's Popular Romance Fiction: The Literature of Hope conference, held at Yale University.

https://romancefictionconference.yale.edu/gallery/popular-romance-fiction-literature-hope-conference-photos-and-video

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Andrea Martucci's Shelf Love podcast episode about this exhibition of John Ennis's art for romance covers is available here: https://shelflovepodcast.com/episodes/season-2/episode-153/covering-romance-john-enniss-art-thoughts-on-fandom

Smart Bitch Sarah's feedback (including lots of photos) on the exhibition can be found here: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2024/02/covering-romance-romance-novel-cover-art-by-john-ennis/

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And here are the new publications:

Burge, Amy, Jodi McAlister and Charlotte Ireland (2024). '“Prince Charming with an Erection”: The Sensational Pleasures of the Bonkbuster.' Contemporary Women's Writing https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vpae002 [This shows how bonkbusters are not romance.]

Johnson, Jacqueline E. (2024) "Lusting out loud: racialized aurality, podcast intimacy, and the uses of thirst". Communication, Culture and Critique. Online First. [Excerpt and details here. As I mentioned over on BlueSky, the focus on "the expansive middle" reminded me of Athena Bellas and Jodi McAlister 's (non-paywalled) recent article on audio erotica. So I wondered if such a focus might have something to do with an audio experience? And/or a difference between what readers/listeners seek from erotica vs. romance fiction? Jodi suggested it could be to do with the length of time available and that the episodes could be thought of as 'a little slice of life from what An Goris calls the "post-HEA"'.]

 

Markova, M. V. (2024). "Georgette Heyer, history, and historical fiction." Voprosy literatury 1:198-203. [This is written in Russian, and in any case I could not access the pdf from https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2024-1-198-203.]

Morden, Christina (2023). Innovations in Romance Novel Distribution at Harlequin, Sourcebooks, and Raincoast Books. Master of Publishing, Simon Fraser University. 

 

Pates, Giuliana (2023). "Reading Practices and Gender Politicization: How do Young Argentinean Women Read Romantic Novels." Revista Interdisciplinaria de Estudios de Género de El Colegio de México 9.1:1–26. [This is in Spanish.]

Spencer, L. (2024). '“Walk like a chameleon”: Reflecting on my teaching journey at a South African university'. Educare, (1), 192–215. https://doi.org/10.24834/educare.2024.1.1093 [Dr Lynda Gichanda Spencer, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Literary Studies in English at Rhodes University, discussed her teaching of African romance fiction as part of a panel at the IASPR 2020 conference. There are a couple of paragraphs about her 2019 third-year elective course titled Global Chick-Lit or Trans-Global Literature? Re-reading Contemporary Women’s Fiction in this online paper, discussing how she asked students to compare Harlequin Mills & Boon romances with romances by African publishers.]

Bonkbusters: Call for Australian Readers to Interview

Jodi McAlister is asking "do you (or your mum, or your aunt, or their friends, or anyone) want to help @dramyburge and I with some research on 1970s/80s romance?"

Did you ever read "bonkbusters"? Dr Jodi McAlister (Deakin University) and Dr Amy Burge (University of Birmingham) are conducting a research project on the “bonkbuster” the kinds of books published by Jilly Cooper, Jackie Collins, Shirley Conran, and similar authors in the 1970s/80s. If you live in Australia and you read these books, we’d love to talk to you in one of our focus groups! We value the knowledge readers have, and believe it is important to preserve and take seriously. If you’re interested in participating, please email Dr Jodi McAlister at jodi.mcalister@deakin.edu.au for more information. This study has received Deakin University ethics approval HAE-22-100

The thread on Twitter adds that this is their

official callout for focus group participants, which will take place in November/December 2022 (one in Melbourne, one on Zoom). If you know someone who fits the bill, please forward it along!

Were you ever a voracious reader of authors like Jilly Cooper, Jackie Collins, or Shirley Conran? If this sounds like you, we’d love you to help us with some research!

Dr Jodi McAlister (Deakin University) and Dr Amy Burge (University of Birmingham) are conducting a research project on the “bonkbuster”, a very popular genre of romantic fiction in the 1970s and 1980s. Think Riders. Think Rock Star. Think Lace. 

If you’re Australian and you read these books, we’d love to talk to you in one of our focus groups! We value the knowledge readers have, and believe it is important to preserve and take seriously. 

If you’re interested in participating, please comment here or send me a DM so I can send you more information.