2011 Get Reading! campaign launched
The Get Reading! campaign was launched this week, and the list of 50 Books You Can’t Put Down seems to be causing angst among local booksellers and publishers, many of whom believe that the list includes too many overseas titles. (It would be nice if they updated the website to coincide with the launch so I could include a link!)
Good news for readers who love outback romance. North Star by Karly Lane is included in the list and I believe it has romantic elements. (Lane was a panelist ARRC and is a member of RWAus.) Did I miss any other romance titles?
The list includes I Came To Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington, which I reviewed a few days ago. Also of interest are The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Passion by Lauren Kate and book six of the Vampire Academy series, Last Sacrifice, by Richelle Mead. These teen/YA titles are popular among romance reading circles.
This year the free anthology, which you can get when you buy one of the books on the list, will be available as an ebook.
ARRC 2011 posts
We at Book Thingo have been very slack about posting our summaries. They’re still works in progress at this stage, but they will be posted. One day. In the meantime, here’s a round-up of the ARRC 2011 posts by other attendees. If I missed yours, please let me know!
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You can find the full archive of the #arrc2011 tweets at What the Hashtag?! but if you’re after the live tweets from the author sessions and convention events, here’s an excerpt from Friday to Sunday.
These are in chronological order (oldest tweets first), but I’ve had to strip out the dates and times because WTH uses Pacific time and doesn’t match the time at ARRC. Let me know if something doesn’t make sense. (I was going to format this more prettily, but…it’s long!)
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Demonstrating a distinct local bias, Australian romance readers awarded their favourite authors at a the Australian Romance Readers Convention on Saturday night.
For the second year in a row, historical author Anna Campbell won the award for Favourite Australian Author. Campbell also picked up the award for Favourite Historical Romance—which might as well be called the Anna Campbell Award because she’s won it every year since the awards began—for her latest book, My Reckless Surrender. Campbell is published by Avon/HarperCollins and was one of the keynote speakers at the convention.
New Zealand author Nalini Singh picked up three awards. Singh won Favourite Paranormal Romance with Bonds of Justice, part of her Psy-Changeling series. The series, set in a future featuring humans, psychics and changelings, also won the award for Favourite Continuing Romance Series. Her urban fantasy book, Archangel’s Consort, the latest book in her Guild Hunter series, won the award for Favourite Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy or Futuristic Romance. Singh is published by Gollancz/Hachette in Australia.
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To follow the live tweets from ARRC, search for #arrc2011 on Twitter, or check the transcript at What The Hashtag. You can find all the ARRC-related posts on Book Thingo here.
The Australian Romance Readers Convention started off with an intimate gathering of readers and authors at the Swiss-Grand, Bondi Beach. The Swiss-Grand is a 4.5-star hotel across the road from Bondi Beach. It’s tucked into a side street so there are no noisy crowds spilling over from the mains strip along the water. The rooms are really small suites with a small lounge area.
As expected, it was a much smaller crowd than the one we saw in Melbourne in 2009. The upside to this was that it way easier to chat! By the end of the night, people were having pockets of conversation in small groups. There was a larger crowd sitting outside, and I think it’s where many of the authors were.
A couple of people have reported a Kiss of Snow ARC sighting. But apparently it’s now locked in a safe. So close and yet so faaaaar!
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BDB cheat sheets updated
Just a quick note to let you know that the ever lovely—and very thorough—Decadence has updated the BDB cheat sheets, including the spoiler thread for Lover Unleashed. You can find links to all the BDB posts here.
Bookish people are meeting up TONIGHT
A quick reminder that we’re having a casual get together for book bloggers, twitterati, Goodreaders, Facebookers, lurkers and any other bookish people who are part of an online community. (Okay, and even if you’re not!) We’re meeting at the Arthouse Hotel (257 Pitt St, Sydney). If you have a book that needs a new home, feel free to bring it along for a book swap.
Click here for more details and to RSVP. We’d love to see you there. If you decide to come along on a whim, feel free to pop by even if you haven’t RSVPed. You’ll find us when you see books!
One more sleep until ARRC 2011
I’m so excited for the Australian Romance Readers Convention like you wouldn’t believe. If you’re keen but still unsure about going, check out Decadence’s post on why you must NOT miss this event. I’ll be at the Welcome event tomorrow night, so please grab me and introduce yourself. (You may have to do this a few times—I have trouble remember names when I’m meeting a lot of new people at once.) A few unofficial social things to think about:
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The second Australian Romance Readers Convention is right around the corner and if you haven’t been to the first one, you probably have no idea what a treat this is going to be.
The program has something for everyone: paranormal, erotic, contemporary, category, historical, urban fantasy, rural romance … whatever your taste, there’s bound to be a session that interests you. A panel that proved very popular at the last convention was This One Time, where the authors talked about the weird and funny stuff that go on behind the scenes when publishing a book or crazy fan stories. This time, the topic will have two panels. Aspiring writers are sure to find Publishing Ins and Outs useful.
I’m really looking forward to hearing the keynote speakers, Cindy Gerard, Anna Campbell and Nalini Singh. I’ve met Nalini a few times and she is awesome in person. She was an entertaining speaker at the ARRA Awards dinner last year where she revealed the title of her third angels book for the first time. At ARRA events, you get the scoop first. In February 2009, keynote speaker MaryJanice Davidson told us about a book idea she had about an FBI agent with multiple personalities that became Me, Myself and Why? published in September 2010. You just never know what’s going to happen.
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ARRA has released the draft program for the Australian Romance Readers Convention in Sydney this year. Click here for a list of ARRC11 posts.
The program includes some of the favourites from the 2009 convention, including ‘This One Time’ and a repeat with different panellists, ‘This Other Time’. I didn’t attend the session in 2009, but I heard it was a total riot. Anna Campbell, Nalini Singh and Cindy Gerard are the keynote speakers, and Helene Young will be launching her new book. Subgenre panels include paranormal romance, historical romance, category romance, romantic suspense, outback romance (‘rural lit’), erotica and sff romance. There’s also a panel showcasing up and coming authors and a publishing panel.
It’s a cracking good line-up with one big problem: How the hell are we supposed to choose which panels to attend?
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Today, the Australian Romance Readers Association confirmed that the 2011 readers’ convention will run from Friday, March 25 to Sunday, March 27 at the Swiss Grand, Bondi Beach.
Keynote speakers include Australian author Anna Campbell (historical romance), New Zealand author Nalini Singh (paranormal romance and urban fantasy) and US author Cindy Gerard (romantic suspense).
You can read more details about the keynote speakers at the ARRA blog.
I’M SO EXCITED! So … who’s coming to Sydney?
I wrote this article over a year ago for the ARRA newsletter. Some of the references were dated—I’ve updated them as much as I can—but I think the general sentiment holds true.
This will sound melodramatic, but it’s a great time to be a romance reader. Not only did our not-so-little corner of the literary market thrive during the recession, we’re at the forefront of some of the most exciting innovations in publishing today.
This is because we buy and read a lot of books. I thought my TBR (to be read) pile of five books was bad, until I met people at the Australian Romance Readers Convention (ARRC) who have rooms filled with unread books. Despite romance’s lack of prestige in literary circles, its readers spend billions of dollars worldwide each year.
Why do we love reading romance stories?
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In honour of Valentines Day—and in the absence of reviews to post—we’re spreading the link love around!
Lovely book things
First, a big congratulations to the City of Sydney librarians who put together an excellent Library Lovers event at Customs House last Thursday. I’m told the event was booked out. Rather than hiring professional actors, library staff did the readings—from Greek poetry to an excerpt from Kiss Me, Annabel by Eloisa James to one of my favourite poems, Close Reading, which we were lucky enough to be able to publish here at Book Thingo last year.
The Australian Romance Readers Association today launched its new website designed by Australian author Paula Roe. If you’re an ARRA member, the newsletter also came out today and in my column I talk about why I like reading the end of the book first. Also, it looks like the Annual ARRA Readers Awards Dinner is set for May 15 in Sydney. No details on the venue yet.
If you only have a couple of minutes, check A Regency Romance in 2 minutes
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