Folks within the romance novel community have been talking about the RWA (Romance Writers of America) Rita Awards. A Black person has never won this prestigious romance award. A friend of mine shared this article with me. It’s a very informative article that gives a rundown of the history of African-Americans within the romance genre. I do recall some of the events in this article. Some of these events occurred before I joined the writing community.

One reason why I use silhouettes on the covers of all of my indie-pubbed romance titles is because I want ALL RACES to read my romance stories. I believe that most romance readers can relate to the stories that I’ve created.

I’ve blogged about similar topics here (see links at the end of this post):

Yes, I realize it’s a LONG LIST, but, I’ve been blogging (sporadically) for over thirteen years! The subject of race often comes up in the fiction publishing world, and it’s a subject which needs to be discussed!

http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2013/08/african-american-novels-by-white-authors.html

http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2013/02/posts.html

http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2010/01/bloomsbury-publishing.html

http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2009/12/should-publishers-get-rid-of-african.html

This was a post to which I referred in one of my blog posts – its’ hilarious!

http://crimesistahs.blogspot.com/2008/12/welcome-to-black-book-section-enjoy.html

http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2008/11/should-black-books-be-segregated.html

http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2007/02/shelving-black-books.html

http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2007/02/black-authors.html

http://ceceliadowdy.com/blog/2012/03/love-inspired-novels-with-african.html