Romance Slam Jam Emma Awards – No Book Featuring a Non-Black Hero Can Win
Sunday, February 26, 2012Posted in: Racism in romance
Roslyn Holcomb just posted over at Goodreads about why she’ll be going to Romantic Times Convention, but not the Romance Slam Jam convention (aimed at African American writers) this year.
Apparently, if a book hasn’t got a black hero, it wont qualify for an Emma (their version of the Ritas I guess).
God willing and the creek don’t rise, I’ll be at the Romantic Times conference in April. Much as it pains mrpe to say this, I won’t be at Slam Jam. Why? Because they practice book bigotry. Yeah, I know the mainstream cons do as well. When was the last time a book with a blCk heroine won a Rita? Try never. But at least they have enough sense to not put it in writing. Amazing as some might find it, Slam Jam has disqualified any book that doesn’t have a black hero from winning an Emma. I’ve suspected for some time that there was some hostility toward those of us who write IR. This simply confirms it.
Seriously, can you imagine if RWA actually put something like that in writing? The uproar would be never ending…