Call for Papers, TEXT Special issue: ‘Isn’t it Romantic’, inspired by the RWA 2024 academic symposium
Romance is a powerhouse genre, a $1.4 billion dollar industry in 2022 (The National Herald). Sales of romance print books increased 52% in the 12-months ending May 2023 (Global Newswire) and according to Nielsen BookScan in Australia the ‘Romance and Sagas’ genre more than tripled in sales 2017-2023, showing an increase of 230%, while New Zealand saw a 270% increase in the same period. Popular Romance Studies is of growing scholarly interest and there are increasing numbers of Higher Degree Research students in the field, particularly doing Creative Writing PhDs. This is a call for papers inspired by the themes of the academic symposium hosted by Flinders University and Assemblage Centre of Creative Arts at the Romance Writers of Australia conference in August 2024. We invite scholarship on popular romance fiction in all its incarnations, including its intersections with colonialism, race, gender, sexuality, power, disability, and queerness, and explorations of genre and subgenre. Both scholarly articles and creative work will be considered.
Papers are encouraged, but not limited, to explore the following:
- Popular romance fiction tropes
- Popular romance fiction and questions of genre/subgenre
- Romance fiction and colonialism
- Romance fiction and race
- Romance fiction and gender
- Romance fiction and sexuality
- Romance fiction and dis/ability
- Romance fiction and queerness
Abstract Submissions
Abstracts for scholarly papers should be 200 words in length and sent to the editors at degreesoflove@flinders.onmicrosoft.com with the subject line:‘EOI for Isn’t It Romantic Special Issue of TEXT Journal.’
Scholarly papers should be 6,000 – 8,000 words as per TEXT guidelines (including endnotes). Please include a brief biography with your abstract (100 words max, in TEXT style) and ensure that you include your email address for reply.
EOI for Creative Submissions
Creative submissions will also be considered for this Special Issue. Final prose works would be 2,000 – 3,000 words. Creative EOIs should include a short synopsis/description of the proposed work, its relation to the theme and focus of the Special Issue, and a 200 – 300 word (10 – 20 lines) creative sample.
EOIs should be sent to the editors atdegreesoflove@flinders.onmicrosoft.com with the subject line:‘Creative Submission EOI for Isn’t It Romantic Special Issue of TEXT Journal.’ Please include a brief biography with your abstract (100 words max, in TEXT style) and ensure that you include your email address for reply.
Deadline for Abstracts and EOIs: Friday, 6th September 2024
Deadline for completed, accepted works: Friday, 1st November 2024
We welcome early submissions
References
Bhowmik, Ananyaa. “Era of Romance: Exploring the Unprecedented Boom in the Popularity of Romance Novles.” The National Herald, 2023. Retrieved June 1st, 2024, from thenationalherald.com.
Baur, Erick. “From Laggard to Leader: Record Sales of Romance Books Reflect Next Generation of Contemporary Readers.” GlobeNewswire, 2023. Retrieved June 1st, 2024, from globenewswire.com.
Program for the RWA ‘Trope Actually’ academic symposium:
https://willorganise.eventsair.com/2024-romance-writers-of-australia/friday-workshops