Last summer, Romancelandia was riding high after the Romance Writers of America (RWA) hosted their 2019 RITA awards ceremony. The awards were celebratory and inclusive, and for many authors, reviewers, and readers, it was an exciting sign that romance was heading in the right direction. 

Despite the thrilling highs of that ceremony, readers and writers know that as long as the traditional publishing industry continues to act as a gatekeeper, romance books will never be as representative as their readership. The Ripped Bodice, a genre bookstore in Culver City, California, prepares a yearly diversity report that highlights racial disparities in romance publishing. The numbers are grim. In 2018, “18 out of 20 publishers chose to have 90% or more of their books written by white authors.” 

In August, Romance Twitter collectively discussed how a single, powerful bad actor can derail the entire romance ecosystem, after small publisher Jack’s House hired Sue Grimshaw as editor. After several tweets pointed out Grimshaw’s habit of liking white supremacist memes and accounts on social media, many black authors shared how, as the romance buyer for Borders, Grimshaw actively segregated their books and sidelined their careers. As this behavior came to light, Jack’s House owner Marie Force quickly announced she and Grimshaw had parted ways. But another small publisher, Glenfinnan, took a very different approach. Owner Suzan Tisdale recorded a 12-minute video defending Grimshaw, saying, “Sue is no more a racist or bigot than I am.” 

As Tisdale went on the offensive, author Courtney Milan, a leading voice for inclusion and diversity in romance, pointed out the racism embedded in a book rereleased in 2014 by Kathryn Lynn Davis, another Glenfinnan editor. Focusing their ire on Milan, Tisdale and Davis filed formal complaints against her. On December 23, RWA announced that Milan would be suspended for one year, with a lifetime ban on leadership positions.

RWA’s handling of these complaints has brought the entire organization to the brink of collapse: Citing a gap between policy and process, the board voted to rescind the penalty against Milan; eight women of color on the board collectively resigned, saying they lacked faith in RWA’s leadership; the 2020 RITA awards were cancelled after hundreds of authors and judges resigned from the contest; and publishers, including giants Harlequin and Avon, announced they would not attend the national conference. Many predict that RWA will have no choice but to cancel the national conference entirely—a staggering financial blow to an already crippled organization.

Author Claire Ryan is compiling a detailed timeline of the events on her blog. The story might lead people to marvel that truth really is stranger than fiction, but the controversy is no joke. Yes, it’s a referendum on the future of romance, but it’s also about the power of stories and language and who gets to wield that power. What haunts me is that in her original complaint, Davis argued that Milan “cannot be allowed to hold a position of authority, or to use her voice to urge others to follow her lead.” 

Any writers’ organization that agrees to censure a member for using her voice is one that is perhaps broken beyond repair, no matter how underhanded the machinations behind it. The fact that RWA used an ethics violation to expel Milan became a bitter pill to swallow. 

The betrayal of black women and other marginalized authors in the organization is especially painful when you consider its roots. RWA was founded in 1981 by a black editor named Vivian Stephens. Steve Ammidown, archivist at the Browne Pop Culture Library at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, explained via phone that Stephens saw the opportunity to create something that was “an intermediary between writers and publishing, and an organized way for authors to work together, many of whom were women in the workplace for the first time.”

Ammidown also shared the first letter RWA sent its members back in 1981. Rita Clay Estrada, the first president, explained that RWA “is NOT a group of writers who meet at intervals to discuss writing and read manuscripts. It IS an organization for the support and affiliation of romance writers everywhere.” (Emphasis Estrada’s.) It’s impossible to read these words without seeing that RWA’s treatment of marginalized authors is a betrayal of its core values; the group was founded for all writers, not just powerful white ones.

As events in December escalated, the online chapter CIMRWA (the Cultural, Interracial, and Multicultural Special Interest Chapter of Romance Writers of America) stepped forward, led by board presidents C. Chilove and Laurel Cremant. CIMRWA was founded in 2012 to create a safe space for authors who felt unwelcome in their local RWA chapters. After it became clear to CIMRWA that RWA’s actions were actively harming its membership, the chapter quickly mobilized and spearheaded a successful petition to force a recall election of RWA president Damon Suede. 

In a phone interview, Cremant explained why the group felt compelled to take action. “Within an organization that is just about writing, if there wasn’t bigotry or racism, we shouldn’t have to exist,” she says. In fact, the chapter hopes to become obsolete, because ideally, she says, “all of RWA should feel like a safe place.” Cremant says that CIMRWA’s mission required it to “get into the fray because none of this is right.” 

Suede and executive director Carol Ritter announced their resignations before the recall election could be held. Many members (including authors Rachel Grant and former RWA board president HelenKay Dimon) have pointed out on Twitter how RWA continues to block the membership’s efforts to understand the chain of events—all leading to this Titanic-like sinking of one of the largest writers’ organizations (with some 9,000 members) in the world.

Cremant doesn’t know what the future will bring for RWA, but she says she’s not one to back down from a fight. “It’s fundamentally unfair that an organization meant to support all writers should be split apart by bigots. If there’s a mass exodus, I would rather the people that leave be the people who are offended by inclusion. If anyone should be going home, it’s them.”

Romance correspondent Jennifer Prokop cohosts the romance podcast Fated Mates. Follow her on Twitter @JenReadsRomance.