Posted on Feb 15, 2022
Looking for diverse happily ever after stories? Turn to 'Radical Romance'
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Andrea Pangilinan says she’s always gravitated towards love stories.
“I remember when I was younger, you kind of think that they’re dumb, or you don’t want to be cliché. And then sometime in my early 20s, I started being a little unapologetic about it.”
Pangilinan became so immersed in the world of romance, that she now works at the Seward Park branch of Third Place Books, and specializes in the romance section.
Along with carrying a love for the genre itself, Pangilinan carries a deep respect for the romance community, including her fellow readers.
In recent years, those readers have publicly pushed the American romance publishing industry to make the genre look more like reality.
“I remember when I was younger, you kind of think that they’re dumb, or you don’t want to be cliché. And then sometime in my early 20s, I started being a little unapologetic about it.”
Pangilinan became so immersed in the world of romance, that she now works at the Seward Park branch of Third Place Books, and specializes in the romance section.
Along with carrying a love for the genre itself, Pangilinan carries a deep respect for the romance community, including her fellow readers.
In recent years, those readers have publicly pushed the American romance publishing industry to make the genre look more like reality.
Looking for diverse happily ever after stories? Turn to 'Radical Romance'
Posted from kuow.org
Love
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Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."“There’s a hashtag called #RadicalRomance, where people were really challenging authors and readers to search for romance with representation," she said. "And whenever I’m recommending romance, and people are trying to find it, that’s what I’m looking for."
Romance fiction has not always done a great job of handing out those happy endings to everyone, especially to characters who don’t match the image of the harlequin heroine you might have seen on your grandma’s bookshelf: blonde, willowy, white, straight, and cis-gender.
That inspired Pangilinan to launch the “Radical Romance” book group, which aims to highlight and celebrate romance fiction featuring characters of all races, orientations, beliefs, sizes, and abilities.
“A lot of romance that’s out there is very Hollywood-esque, where it is beautiful white straight people falling in love and most of us are not all of those three things,” Pangilinan said. “And we also get a sanitized version of the world when those are the only heroes and heroines that you’re reading.”
Recently, large romance publishers have been doing a better job of selecting stories with diverse representation for their readers, according to Pangilinan.
“The whole point of it is to portray these parts of life and relationships in a way that is enriching, in a way that's joyful, in a way that's representative,” Pangilinan said. “And now you're getting the intersection of queer stories — we have a lot more men [and] non-binary, everyone jumping into the genre, and exploring those stories joyfully."
The Radical Romance book group meets on the second Monday of every month. Their March selection is An Extraordinary Union: An Epic Love Story of the Civil War by Alyssa Cole. You can find out more information about Radical Romance on Third Place’s website."...
..."“There’s a hashtag called #RadicalRomance, where people were really challenging authors and readers to search for romance with representation," she said. "And whenever I’m recommending romance, and people are trying to find it, that’s what I’m looking for."
Romance fiction has not always done a great job of handing out those happy endings to everyone, especially to characters who don’t match the image of the harlequin heroine you might have seen on your grandma’s bookshelf: blonde, willowy, white, straight, and cis-gender.
That inspired Pangilinan to launch the “Radical Romance” book group, which aims to highlight and celebrate romance fiction featuring characters of all races, orientations, beliefs, sizes, and abilities.
“A lot of romance that’s out there is very Hollywood-esque, where it is beautiful white straight people falling in love and most of us are not all of those three things,” Pangilinan said. “And we also get a sanitized version of the world when those are the only heroes and heroines that you’re reading.”
Recently, large romance publishers have been doing a better job of selecting stories with diverse representation for their readers, according to Pangilinan.
“The whole point of it is to portray these parts of life and relationships in a way that is enriching, in a way that's joyful, in a way that's representative,” Pangilinan said. “And now you're getting the intersection of queer stories — we have a lot more men [and] non-binary, everyone jumping into the genre, and exploring those stories joyfully."
The Radical Romance book group meets on the second Monday of every month. Their March selection is An Extraordinary Union: An Epic Love Story of the Civil War by Alyssa Cole. You can find out more information about Radical Romance on Third Place’s website."...
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