I’ve faithfully participated in The Ashland (Massachusetts) Library Annual Romance Festival* for years—2025 excepted, since I was in London at the time. But this year I’m in Massachusetts, and looking forward to attending with my brilliant assistant, Jessica. She will, no doubt, keep the social media alerted while I spend time with readers and author friends.
Once upon a time, events like this happened frequently, all over the country, usually sponsored by local chapters of the Romance Writers of America. That organization has had an annual conference dating to the early days of my career, in the last century. But since the RWA upheaval and COVID, things have changed. Romance writers and readers have had fewer opportunities to gather and celebrate our multi-faceted genre. Yes, we’ve been getting together via Zoom, but it isn’t the same, is it?
Still, in the last year or so, I’ve been alerted to more events happening around the country. Some are library sponsored. Some regional romance writer organizations are putting on their own events again. Romance friendly bookstores continue to hold panels and other gatherings of authors and readers. And new romance bookstores, which have been popping up all over the U.S., are holding multi-author events that go beyond book signings.
All of which is to say, if you’re not around to join us on 16 May, look around. There may be a romance fiction event near you. If you do happen to be in the vicinity, you might want to pay us a visit.
Romance Authors Festival 2026 ~ Ashland Public Library ~ 66 Front St ~ Ashland Massachusetts ~ Saturday 16 May ~ 10:00 AM—4:00 PM
You can read all about it at this link. And you can register by following this link. It’s free, but you are welcome to make a donation to the library.
And yes, we’ll have a bookseller on site. Aesop’s Fable has told me they’ll have all of my Difficult Dukes books on hand, as well as Lord of Scoundrels, and a few other titles from my backlist.
*Previously RomCon