HUGO AND VIVIAN SHOW PROGRESS

A couple of big things happened on the literary front this week. And though I usually just keep my head down and write, these events were specific to my two chosen genres—romance and science fiction—so I paid attention.

On Tuesday the World Science Fiction Society announced its nominations for this year’s annual Hugo Awards for the best works in science fiction and fantasy, Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book. Unique among literary awards, these SF honors are chosen from among the nominees by the members of the World SF Convention (WorldCon) every year. That means not only authors, editors and publishers get a say in who wins the awards, but also fans of the genre. Due to the limitations of the COVID pandemic, the 79^th Annual World Science Fiction Convention, DisConIII, will be virtual, streaming from Washington, D.C.

In the past democratic ideal has sometimes worked more like mob rule in science fiction. Just a few years ago, the genre was turned upside down at the time of the Hugo nominations by the very idea that a woman—or a person of color—might win the top award. The World SF Society, which administers the award, and the Science Fiction Writers Association were roiled by a very open, very ugly controversy pitting the old guard of white, cishet males against a younger cohort of diverse authors—female, POC, LBGTQ+, the disabled, and their allies.

Though that process was painful, it did eventually break through the barriers to progress SF had built since the halcyon days of the New Age. And this year’s list of nominees is almost all women, people of color and representative of other diverse backgrounds. Amazingly, it looks just like any group of authors you might meet!

The Romance Writers of America® went through a similarly wrenching self-examination over the last two years, recognizing that the organization had A LOT of work to do in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion. Year after year, our own contest to honor excellence in romance, the RITA®, ended up with virtually NO nominees of color, LBGTQ+ authors or any other authors representative of marginalized communities. Worse, the nominated books themselves were seldom representative of the world at large, with almost every one full of white, hetero couples unchallenged by any disability.

 

Given the RITA®’s many problems, a reorganized RWA® decided to retire the contest and institute a brand-new contest with more objective judging standards. This is the first year of the Vivian® Contest for excellence in romance writing, and the finalists were just announced this week. It may be too early to tell whether the hoped-for improvements can truly be found in this year’s nominees. There are a few more people of color among the Contemporary Romance author nominees, and from the book descriptions that translates directly into more POC in the heroes and heroines that populate their nominated books. (One of the nominees is an old friend from my days in the Virginia chapter of RWA, Tracey Livesay. Congratulations, Tracey!) There is at least one LBGTQ+ author (congratulations,Laquette!), though there may be others I don’t know about. The Historical Romance—Long category remains the stronghold of veteran, best-selling authors, but inroads have been made by a new generation in other categories. Congratulations, in particular, to our Golden Heart sister Valerie Bowman for her nomination in the Historical Romance—Mid category.

I regret to say the Speculative Romance category remains dominated by paranormal romance, though we did have a nomination in the Best First Published Book category (Choosing Theo: The Clecanian Series (Book One) by Victoria Aveline). One big reason for that is probably that SFR authors remain gun-shy about submitting to RWA contests. I really hope we get over that.

On the other hand, I was a judge this year, and I have to say I wasn’t overly impressed with the SFR books I was given to judge. That wasn’t unusual. I’m a harsh, but fair, judge. Not many of the books I read in any category made the grade. The great thing about the Vivian® Contest is that there is an objective scoring system in place. Judges can’t just say, “Not a romance,” and get away with it anymore.

This is Vivian®’s first year, and there are bound to be criticisms. I thought there were a few tweaks that could have improved the score sheet, myself. Still, I hope to have a book to enter next year, and I encourage more of you to enter, too.

Cheers, Donna

 

GOODBYE RITA, HELLO VIVIAN

Just a few short months ago, the biggest controversy in the literary world revolved around the implosion of Romance Writers of America®, an organization once 10,000 members strong and the single most relevant voice for authors in the most lucrative genre in publishing. It was only January when scandal erupted over an improper accusation of ethics violations by one faction against an author of color, bringing long-simmering issues of diversity, equity and inclusion to a boil.

In a rapidly escalating crisis, other improprieties by the governing Board of Directors and various committees were uncovered, and a howl of pent-up hurt and anger went up from RWA® members who were authors of color, disabled and/or LGBTQ+ and those that supported them. The RITA Award for excellence in published romance became a particular focus of criticism after nominees for 2019 included no authors of color despite promises to do better in this area in 2018. (See my post on the controversy here.)

The result of this storm of ugliness was that the Board of Directors and the Executive Director resigned, and several standing committees were dissolved. New officer elections were held, replacing the old guard with people dedicated to a more diverse and inclusive organization. 

 

After a storm of controversy for RWA, sun, and a new road.

The coronavirus pandemic came along to take attention away from what seemed to be a world-shattering series of events in January. Today there is even a new controversy in publishing-land to capture the short attention span of the news media (fan fiction violates copyrights—NEWS FLASH!). And yet, the new BOD of RWA® has continued to work steadily (online) for a new and improved organization, keeping membership updated on its progress through regular reports.

The most exciting news? RITA is retiring. The committee in charge of revamping the contest determined it was better to start over with a whole new approach, rather than try to renovate a crumbling concept. Their answer is The Vivian, named for ground-breaking romance editor Vivian Stephens, a co-founder of RWA®, a mentor of authors of color and a woman of color herself.

The Board introduced the new award with this statement of its mission:

The Vivian recognizes excellence in romance writing and showcases author talent and creativity. We celebrate the power of the romance genre with its central message of hope--because happily ever afters are for everyone.

A full-page announcement of the new award on the RWA® website indicates the detailed format of The Vivian will be described at the May 30-31 virtual Board meeting. In the meantime, committee members offered this summary of its main characteristics:

• A clear rubric to enhance and streamline scoring guidelines in addition to judge training that will allow for more standardized judging,
• A sophisticated matching process so that entrants can be sure their books go to judges versed in their subgenre, and
• A category devoted to recognizing unpublished authors.

Further, the announcement provides these details for members:

    
“Members will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed format at the member town hall scheduled for June 3 and by emailing board@rwa.org or contest@rwa.org. The Board's goal is for the rules and format to be finalized and voted on at the Fourth Quarter Board meeting (date TBA) in time for a fall launch, with the first year of the contest to recognize books published in both 2019 and 2020.”

Personally, I think the committee’s work is nothing short of brilliant. The suggestions I made over a year ago (when the RITA controversy first broke out)—objective judging criteria and judge training, an opportunity for peer judging within categories—have been incorporated. And, too, there is whole separate category for unpublished writers, which solves the problem of the loss of the Golden Heart contest. 

It remains to be seen whether these steps will resolve the contest’s issues with diversity, equity and inclusion, but this process should allow for more objective judging and encourage more entries. It’s the follow-through that will determine how well the process actually works to the benefit of marginalized authors.

RWA Executive Director Leslie Scantlebury and RWA President Alyssa Day spoke to Vivian Stephens at length about the idea to name the new award for her. Ms. Stephens responded to the news of the honor with these words, which SFR authors will certainly take to heart:

"I once heard an astrophysicist explain how heavy elements of the Periodic Table forged into the center of stars, later explode, showering the universe and everything in it with its spoils, Stardust. Since we all live in the universe it is well worth remembering that underneath the outer dressing of ethnicity, color, and gender, we are all the same. Showered with the gift of stars.

"Today, as we move forward into a new world order, Romance Writers of America must be one group, united by the purity of craft that identifies the organization. Guided by their star shine, moving quietly with confidence in the direction of their purpose, writing wonderful stories. Members must step up and deliver their best. Romance novels are read by people of Every Background throughout the World! They read these novels for entertainment, general information, life-style ideas, encouragement, rules of behavior, fun, a good laugh, hope, and a reminder of how life could be...if only.

"It is the duty of every Romance writer to give every Romance reader that experience. The writer must elevate themselves to be worthy of the craft and bring to it all of the nuances and magic of good storytelling. The reader deserves and expects nothing less."

--Vivian Stephens

Cheers, Donna

*Information for this post provided from “Introducing The Vivian, a New Award for a New Era,” RWA®,