Happily Ever After? Contemporary Australian Romance Publishing
- Friday 30 October
- Room 222, Michie Building (#9)
- 1pm - 2pm
You think you know Australian literature, but have you ever heard of Stephanie Laurens, Anne Gracie, or Kylie Scott? Romance publishing in Australia is profitable and innovative, nationally distinctive and globally connected – and strikingly understudied. This presentation will show how romance fiction is pushing digital change in Australian publishing, how Australian rural settings operate in one of the most profitable and sustained subgenres of romance, and how Australian romance is dominating publishing both locally and globally.
Kim Wilkins (UQ), Lisa Fletcher (University of Tasmania), and Beth Driscoll (University of Melbourne) were awarded the 2015 Romance Writers of America Academic Research Grant to conduct research into the “genre world” of Australian romance fiction. They publish, both individually and collaboratively, on topics such as genre, print culture, popular fiction, and reading communities.