In discussion of book covers, I remember my first encounter with Octavia Butler in the 80s. Her covers had white characters and, as we know, Butler's characters are not white. Publishers stated clearly in justifying this that "Black people don't read." Thank goodness we've moved past that, but it was incredibly insulting to me, a black reader/writer.
Loved this! I have so many new books to read now! I also want to give a shout out to a book I finished a few weeks ago, “For Her Consideration” by Amy Spalding. It’s a queer romance with a fat protagonist and an amazing, diverse friend group that’s a big part of the plot. Oh, and a cat named Steve.
Loved this as I'm currently querying agents for my romance with 40 somethings and a plus size heroine (I'd say fat except she's a 16-18 and I'm still not sure I consider that fat or even small fat, but your mileage may vary!). And I'm nervous that no one in publishing wants an older not-thin heroine, even though many of us readers do. Loved this reading list, can't wait to get on it!
Romance has been my favorite genre for about 20 years now though I’ve certainly focused more on BIPOC authors in the last 5 years- Kennedy Ryan, Alisha Rai, Crystal Maldonado, and Jasmine Guilllory were favorite authors for me in the last few years. I have vague memories of a couple BET books I read in the early 2000s as a high schooler where it was mentioned the Black women were size 20-22 but I can’t remember the titles. For anyone who is interested in writing romance, Jasmine Guillory is teaching an online workshop with The Writers Conservatory https://thewritersconservatory.teachable.com/p/romance-fall-2024
I also enjoy queer romance, and I really loved Dominic Lim’s All the Right Notes last year after seeing him speak at Bookmarks Festival in Winston. Loved this whole discussion and acknowledgment of colonial roots- Nisha Sharma’s books are being added to my TBR list now!
The colonial roots of romance seem much more complicated than this to me. Doesn’t much turn on desire for the other, on the other as offering a beauty that is desirable exactly because it is not one’s own? Exoticism has its own issues but it is not rejection it is desire. Conversely the ideal Euro body seems more often figured as the exception. Rather than presenting white Euro-American bodies as desirable II’d argue that literature presents them as models of failure with the rare few as objects of desire. In any book, there are so many characters whose undesirability is inscribed on their bodies from the outset: fat, plain, old, wrinkled, big noses, thin lips, spots, an endless litany of inadequacy.
As someone who is 6'1 and a size 16, I quickly added Dating Dr. Dil to my TBR list. I love that it is getting easier to find diverse characters in fiction, but finding a tall female character is still very uncommon, and especially in a romance novel. It's much more challenging for the leading man to just throw the heroine around the room during sex when they are the same size I guess.
Ok but I'm reclaiming svelte as curvy and sexy. We can't relinquish all the language. I'm a serious romance reader and I love it. But that only became possible because of the broadening of the genre. I hated it at the end of college.
Ugh, I'm one of those people who grew up reading big words and so I just imagined their meanings. It's annoying that it's actually supposed to mean thin. How about fat and lithe? :)
Lithe also means thin. As someone who also grew up reading big words, reading with a small pocket dictionary next to you can be life changing. And you also get to learn what new words mean.
I really appreciated Nisha making the explicit connections between fatphobia and racism, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, etc. Would love to see those intersectionalities be centered more in the conversation here and anti-diet culture education in general.
I hear you on the curvy female characters always coupling with tall, muscled men. I feel like it’s time to move on to regular Joe’s as long as they have hearts of gold. My curvy protagonist is with a man just as tall as her at 5’7 and a little bit of a belly and I wonder how my readers will react—though Enough AF is women’s fiction and not romance.
I adore all the romance books mentioned in this episode!! What a fun listen. As a cis het white lady, I personally have really enjoyed finding romances with WOC and LBGTQIA mc’s. I’ve read Dating Dr. Dil but have now added Sharma’s other books to my hold list. 😁
Loved this episode! I put Nisha’s trilogy, as well as her recommendations, on my Goodreads list (helpful tip that even that small step can be good for authors).
Re: fat male characters in romance novels, I recently read Weather Girl (Rachel Lynn Solomon) and appreciated that the male love interest had a belly… plus that the female character struggles with anxiety/depression. (A different kind of rep…)
In discussion of book covers, I remember my first encounter with Octavia Butler in the 80s. Her covers had white characters and, as we know, Butler's characters are not white. Publishers stated clearly in justifying this that "Black people don't read." Thank goodness we've moved past that, but it was incredibly insulting to me, a black reader/writer.
Anita, I wish there were a more nuanced than “like” to react to this message! I need a thumbs down or at least an exclamation point. INSANE
Loved this! I have so many new books to read now! I also want to give a shout out to a book I finished a few weeks ago, “For Her Consideration” by Amy Spalding. It’s a queer romance with a fat protagonist and an amazing, diverse friend group that’s a big part of the plot. Oh, and a cat named Steve.
Love this take!
Loved this as I'm currently querying agents for my romance with 40 somethings and a plus size heroine (I'd say fat except she's a 16-18 and I'm still not sure I consider that fat or even small fat, but your mileage may vary!). And I'm nervous that no one in publishing wants an older not-thin heroine, even though many of us readers do. Loved this reading list, can't wait to get on it!
Romance has been my favorite genre for about 20 years now though I’ve certainly focused more on BIPOC authors in the last 5 years- Kennedy Ryan, Alisha Rai, Crystal Maldonado, and Jasmine Guilllory were favorite authors for me in the last few years. I have vague memories of a couple BET books I read in the early 2000s as a high schooler where it was mentioned the Black women were size 20-22 but I can’t remember the titles. For anyone who is interested in writing romance, Jasmine Guillory is teaching an online workshop with The Writers Conservatory https://thewritersconservatory.teachable.com/p/romance-fall-2024
I also enjoy queer romance, and I really loved Dominic Lim’s All the Right Notes last year after seeing him speak at Bookmarks Festival in Winston. Loved this whole discussion and acknowledgment of colonial roots- Nisha Sharma’s books are being added to my TBR list now!
The colonial roots of romance seem much more complicated than this to me. Doesn’t much turn on desire for the other, on the other as offering a beauty that is desirable exactly because it is not one’s own? Exoticism has its own issues but it is not rejection it is desire. Conversely the ideal Euro body seems more often figured as the exception. Rather than presenting white Euro-American bodies as desirable II’d argue that literature presents them as models of failure with the rare few as objects of desire. In any book, there are so many characters whose undesirability is inscribed on their bodies from the outset: fat, plain, old, wrinkled, big noses, thin lips, spots, an endless litany of inadequacy.
As someone who is 6'1 and a size 16, I quickly added Dating Dr. Dil to my TBR list. I love that it is getting easier to find diverse characters in fiction, but finding a tall female character is still very uncommon, and especially in a romance novel. It's much more challenging for the leading man to just throw the heroine around the room during sex when they are the same size I guess.
Ok but I'm reclaiming svelte as curvy and sexy. We can't relinquish all the language. I'm a serious romance reader and I love it. But that only became possible because of the broadening of the genre. I hated it at the end of college.
But the definition is "slender and lithe" according to Merriam-Webster! Obviously always here to reclaim a previously unhelpful word tho. (See: fat!)
Ugh, I'm one of those people who grew up reading big words and so I just imagined their meanings. It's annoying that it's actually supposed to mean thin. How about fat and lithe? :)
Lithe also means thin. As someone who also grew up reading big words, reading with a small pocket dictionary next to you can be life changing. And you also get to learn what new words mean.
So, where’s the reading list? Where can we find all the books in one easy to use reference?
They are all linked throughout the transcript but we also have them all listed here: https://www.splitrockbks.com/fat-feminist-romance
Found it thanks! (And sorry, it was obvious where to look; some days I am quite dense.)
No worries! I should have linked that higher up in the transcript, will do so now!
I really appreciated Nisha making the explicit connections between fatphobia and racism, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, etc. Would love to see those intersectionalities be centered more in the conversation here and anti-diet culture education in general.
I hear you on the curvy female characters always coupling with tall, muscled men. I feel like it’s time to move on to regular Joe’s as long as they have hearts of gold. My curvy protagonist is with a man just as tall as her at 5’7 and a little bit of a belly and I wonder how my readers will react—though Enough AF is women’s fiction and not romance.
I adore all the romance books mentioned in this episode!! What a fun listen. As a cis het white lady, I personally have really enjoyed finding romances with WOC and LBGTQIA mc’s. I’ve read Dating Dr. Dil but have now added Sharma’s other books to my hold list. 😁
My TBR list is getting out of hand….
Loved this episode! I put Nisha’s trilogy, as well as her recommendations, on my Goodreads list (helpful tip that even that small step can be good for authors).
Re: fat male characters in romance novels, I recently read Weather Girl (Rachel Lynn Solomon) and appreciated that the male love interest had a belly… plus that the female character struggles with anxiety/depression. (A different kind of rep…)