Dear Georgina,
UK romance fiction just hit a record £69m in sales. The British Book Awards (finally) introduced a Romantic Fiction category. And one of publishing’s most interesting cultural conversations right now seems to be about who gets to write these books.
The answer, overwhelmingly, is women. Male romcom authors exist – Mike Gayle is the obvious exception that proves the rule, but male writers of romance tend to occupy an awkward space. When David Nicholls writes a love story, it’s instantly marketed as literary fiction. When a woman writes an identical book, it’s called a beach read – mostly because chick lit is so last century. Men who write female-led romcoms are questioned about their right to do so. And yet the cultural appetite for emotionally open male storytelling has never been stronger.
Mo Fanning is a gay novelist from the Midlands who has written five romcoms with female protagonists. His latest, ‘Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine’, published last month. He writes books that are funny, warm and unapologetically commercial – and finds himself constantly explaining why a man would choose to do that.
I think this would make a strong Times Magazine feature: the male romcom author as a lens for how we still police gender in fiction. Mo is available for interview or could contribute a first-person essay.
Best,Adrian BedfordABC Book Marketing07881 925376