RNA & Authors North – Writing Romantic Fiction

A day dedicated to romantic fiction in partnership between the Society of Authors Authors North and the RNA. Hear from authors, agents and publishers offering their practical advice and industry insights.

To book go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/authors-north-writing-romantic-fiction-tickets-58431791060

£59 standard price – discounts available for RNA & Society of Authors members. Early booking discount available until 17th March 2019. General ticket sales for non Society of Authors members open 17th March.

Date: 11th May 2019

Venue: The Thoresby Room, Leeds City Museum.

Programme

10.30am Registration
Pick up your event pack and network with fellow authors over tea and coffee.

11 – 11.10am Welcome from Rhoda Baxter, Chair of Authors North

11.10am – 12pm Defying conventions: how to juggle different sub-genres within romance fiction
Authors Jane Lovering and Kate Johnson will discuss their working methods and paths to publication across both the romantic comedy and paranormal romance sub-genres, followed by a Q&A.

Jane Lovering is a Devon export, now naturalised Yorkshire person, award-winning author of books she describes as ‘psychological romance, with jokes’. She won the overall Romantic Novel of the Year in 2012 with her first novel published in the UK and, as a result, suffers from deeply intrenched imposter syndrome. She lives very rurally, in North Yorkshire, where her day job in the local Co-Op brings her into contact with many people who ask if she’s going to write about them next. She isn’t.
Twitter: @Jane Lovering | Website: janelovering.co.uk

Kate Johnson misspent her youth watching lots of Joss Whedon and reading even more Terry Pratchett, which made it kind of inevitable that when she grew up to write romance novels, they’d be the weird ones around the edges. In 2017 Kate became the first author to win a Paranormal Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists Association, with Max Seventeen, which was also the first self-published book to win in any category. She has been shortlisted twice more, for The Untied Kingdomand Max Seventeen: Firebrand.
Twitter: @K8JohnsonAuthor

12 – 12.15pm Comfort break

12.15pm – 1.15pm Industry Insights: publishing romantic fiction today
Literary agent Kate Nash, Phoebe Morgan, Editorial Director at Trapeze, and Sareeta Domingo, Editor at Mills and Boon, share their insights into publishing romance fiction and offer practical advice on how authors can best work in partnership with their agent and publishers.

Kate Nash set up the Kate Nash Literary Agency so she could do “the best job in publishing”. As a former author, publisher, publicist and marketer, Kate has seen every side of publishing. Kate’s reading tastes – from romance to thrillers – are highly commercial and she represents a number of award winning and bestselling romantic fiction authors including Bella Osborne, Christie Barlow, Jane Lovering, Maggie Sullivan, Janet Woods, Maxine Barry, Terri Nixon and Glynis Peters. In 2017, Kate was listed at #20 in UK Fiction by Publishers Marketplace, based on number of deals made and in 2018 was named a Bookseller Industry Rising Star.
Twitter: @katenashagent | Website: katenashlit.co.uk | Facebook: facebook.com/KateNashLiteraryAgency

Phoebe Morgan commissions fiction and non-fiction for Trapeze, an imprint of Orion. Previously she worked at Avon HarperCollins, working with a range of Sunday Times and ebook bestsellers. She also writes and her thrillers are published by HQ. In 2018, she won a Trailblazer award for publishing, and she is always on the hunt for talented new authors.
Twitter: @Phoebe_A_Morgan | Website phoebemorganauthor.com

Sareeta Domingo has worked as an Editor for well over a decade, in various areas of publishing. She has been an Editor at Mills & Boon for two years, as well as having edited romantic fiction for independent publishers such as Jacaranda Books and Cassava Republic Press. She is also a published author, with her debut romantic novel The Nearness of You published by Piatkus (Little, Brown) in 2016.
Twitter: @SareetaD_Hqnuk

1.15 – 2.15pm Lunch
Chat to fellow authors and panellists over a buffet lunch.

2.15 – 3.15pm Love is For Everyone: Diversity and Representation in Romance
The Romantic Novelists’ Association discuss diversity and inclusion in romance. Love is for everyone but does our romantic fiction really reflect that?
This session will be chaired by Authors North Chair Rhoda Baxter, in conversation with RNA Vice-Chair Alison May, and authors Liam Livings and Sareeta Domingo.

Alison May is a novelist, short story writer, blogger and creative writing tutor who grew up in North Yorkshire, and now lives in Worcester. She won the RNA’s Elizabeth Goudge trophy in 2012, and her short stories have been published by Harlequin, Choc Lit and Black Pear Press. Alison has also been shortlisted in the Love Stories and RoNA Awards. Alison writes emotional fiction, and her latest novel, All That Was Lost, was published by Legend Press in September 2018. She also writes modern retellings of misunderstood classics, in collaboration with Janet Gover, under the penname Juliet Bell (julietbell.co.uk& Twitter @JulietBellBooks).
Twitter @MsAlisonMay | Website: alison-may.co.uk | Facebook:facebook.com/AlisonMayAuthor

Liam Livings lives where east London ends and becomes Essex. He shares his house with his boyfriend and cat. Published since 2013 by a number of British and American presses, his gay romance and gay fiction focuses on friendships, British humour, and romance with plenty of sparkle. He’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. With a masters in creative writing from Kingston University, he teaches writing workshops with his partner in sarcasm and humour, Virginia Heath as realpeoplewritebooks.com and has also ghostwritten a client’s 5-star reviewed autobiography.
Twitter: @LiamLivings | Website: liamlivings.com | Facebook: facebook.com/liam.livings

Sareeta Domingo is an author and editor from South East London. Having been commissioned by Pavilion Books to write short stories in anthologies for Agent Provocateur, and then a novella for the same publisher, her debut romantic novel The Nearness of You was published by Piatkus Books (Little, Brown) in 2016. She has an upcoming second romantic novel to be published by Jacaranda Books in 2020 as part of their #20in2020 initiative to publish 20 Black British authors in 2020. She writes occasional reviews of contemporary romance books on her blog, The Palate Cleanser: http://thepalatecleanserblog.wordpress.com/
Twitter @SareetaDomingo

Rhoda Baxter writes romantic comedies about people who make her laugh. In real life she studied molecular biology at Oxford, which is why her pen name might sound suspiciously like the name of a bacterium. She also writes multicultural women’s fiction under the name Jeevani Charika.
Twitter: @rhodabaxter | Website: rhodabaxter.com or jeevanicharika.com | Facebook:facebook.com/RhodaBaxterAuthor

3.15 – 3.30pm Tea and coffee break

Grab a cuppa before our final session

3.30 – 4.30pm Historical romance with Val Wood
Bestselling author Val Wood discusses her writing life and shares practical advice gained over the course of her 25-year career as a historical romantic novelist where history and love travel hand in hand.

Val Wood has written 24 novels, all set in and around Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Her first novel, The Hungry Tide, published in 1993 won the Catherine Cookson Prize for Romantic Fiction. The annual creative writing competition, The Val Wood Prize, was launched in 2013 and continues to attract international attention. In 2017 Val was awarded an honorary doctorate from The University of Hull. Val supports various charities including Sight Support (Hull & East Yorkshire) where she holds the position of Vice President. She is also patron of Home-Start (Hull). Her latest novel, Four Sisters, is released in November 2019.

Twitter: @val_wood | Website: valeriewood.co.uk | Facebook: facebook.com/ValWoodAuthor

5.30pm Networking drinks
Join us to share your thoughts from the day’s sessions over a drink at The Brewery Tap, a short walk from the venue and round the corner from Leeds train station.

Book your ticket here