[ETA 9/30/15: I have a tentative panel line-up, but it isn’t impossible someone could still be added, so feel free to email if you’re interested!]
I am working with Eric Selinger to put together a panel on diversity in historical romance for the Popular Culture Association‘s national conference next spring. The conference is March 21–25, 2016 in Seattle, WA. (If the panel happens, I will also be on it as an author of Jewish historical romance.)
If you write or have written diverse historical romance (protagonists of color, LGBTQ, disabled, faiths other than Christian, any combination thereof, anything I’m forgetting) and would be interested in being on the panel, please get in touch with me at lerner.rose@gmail.com!
Please make sure to include your pen name and website address in your email, and please mention if you have any scheduling restrictions during the five days of the conference (March 21-25). I would also love to hear about how your life experiences have contributed to your thinking about diversity in the genre.
Unfortunately there is no funding available to help with travel expenses. Let me know if housing is an issue; there is a possibility I could find you somewhere to crash.
Hi Rose — I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I’m confused. Female physicians were certainly out of the ordinary in the 1880s, and some of them were diverse in terms of religion and politics. But is that too tame?
Sara, I haven’t seen your email come through so I’ll reply here. The answer is that I need more information! Please do email me if you’re interested in being on the panel, and please be specific in the e-mail about what kinds of diversity exactly are in your books. I also want the panel itself to be as diverse as possible, so if you wouldn’t mind sharing a bit about yourself as well, that would really help me out. Thanks!!