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I am Lover of romance, who indulges in the romantic adventures of literature

My name is Renee, and I am the host of this site. I am a 34 year old woman, on the prowl for her mate, searching out the best of books, exploring the wilds of the imagination and delving into the heart of a beautiful love story.

 

Tea and Biscuits Book Discussion: RWA Vivian’s Fallout

by | Aug 9, 2021 | Tea and Biscuits Discussions | 7 comments

Tea and Biscuits Book Discussions is a feature here on Addicted To Romance where there is talk of books, blogging, and reading topics….so come on in and join in on the discussion

I have so many topics to cover in future posts, but I wanted to cover something more recent that has been happening. Recently, as many of you may know, although some of you may not be aware, is that RWA recently did their Vivians Awards. I will be honest in that I was apprehensive in how this would come about. And yeah, this didn’t go so well. I think if it wasn’t for the one scandal that occurred, than there would have been a much more positive feedback on these awards. Now I am all for diversity, inclusion of all values in the romance genre. I want to see all forms of representation that is genuine and real. And we see quite a bit of this in the romance genre, however, the Vivian Awards didn’t showcase this in the way it needed to be shown or the way the romance community deserved. As readers especially we really have little say in how these organization like RWA handle these scenarios. Now I know some bloggers were participating as judges. But at the end of the day, its the head honchos that are in charge of it. It just saddens me to see the way RWA has evolved. They were once a highly respected organization, and yes some of it was “woke mob” that caused some fall out, but much of it was their own actions and so I do put blame on the shoulders of those not willing to do what is right for the community as a whole.

Another aspect that I wasn’t a fan of is seeing the criticism that the inspirational/religious sub genre of romance has received. There are so many treasures in that genre (quite a few of those are books that started my journey into romance) and yes while there are some questionable work, its a sub genre that covers a vast array of sub genres within that sub genre. And I have found many more books that are so much more relatable to real life in the genre that I just find reassuring in many ways. It hurts me to see books such as “At Love’s Command” within the genre, because I tried reading it and I couldn’t even get past the first couple of pages. It is definitely a book I can understand the outrage because it does contain genocide that the hero participates in. Its pretty horrific what is contained in that book. And I just don’t need to see such books in the romance genre.

Now what does that mean for romance readers? What actions can we take to showcase the importance of what is going on? Honestly I don’t think much can be done. It is heart breaking to see what is happening here, and I am not sure that even if RWA were to fix it that many of our most beloved authors would even choose to participate.

If you want to know more in depth discussions on what actually happened, I have included links to videos you can check out on YouTube.

 
 

 

 

So curious your thoughts on what happened with the Vivian’s? What do you think needs to be done to fix it? Or can it be fixed?

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7 Comments

  1. ratmom

    I saw about it on Twitter. Lots of people were talking about it.

    Reply
    • Loverofromance

      Yes, Twitter was definitely full of it for sure!

      Reply
  2. Rachel @Waves of Fiction

    I don’t follow the RWA or what they do so I’m in the dark for about any scandals. I’m blissfully ignorant, lol. I can’t believe someone wrote a hero who participates in a genocide! Wow!

    It’s unfortunate that there’s so much drama. Makes me glad I only have so much time for anything else besides my work and my personal life.

    Reply
  3. Sophia Rose

    I missed the drama and the storm on social media, but I caught your tweet after. Sounds like the RWA is self-imploding. Authors and readers benefit from organizations so hopefully this will bring better future organizations that can learn from earlier mistakes. I agree that inspirational romance needs to be equally repped with the rest of the genres.

    Reply
    • Loverofromance

      Yeah, it’s pretty insane what has been happening to the RWA and how it has become so discredited in recent years. Its sad that inspirational romance isn’t represented as it should be.

      Reply
  4. Carole

    I was clueless that there was any kind of scandal. It is hard to believe that a book with such an unlikable hero would be included.

    Reply
    • Loverofromance

      Yes its been making the rounds all over twitter. But its kinda crazy this type of book would make it to these awards. It is truly baffling. But RWA has had some scandals the past couples years and its sad because they used to be highly respected.

      Reply

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