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Leyla Erkan is an editor for Harlequin. Below, she discusses the evolution of queer romance in publishing and its growing impact beyond the genre.
We’re living through an incredible period where romance is more popular than ever. Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry has taken the world by storm, ushering in excitement for all sorts of stories featuring queer love.
Already, I’m seeing the impact as an editor. I’m receiving more queer romance submissions than ever before, in every subgenre. And the queer writers I already work with, some of whom have been publishing in the space for years, are also seeing an influx of new readers discovering their books. It’s a great sign for the future ahead, one that I’m proud to be a part of.
I’m not surprised that our genre is at the forefront. Romance is seldom given the credit it deserves as a serious and culturally important genre. Instead, we’re often stigmatized and dismissed.
But in reality, romance is an inherently radical genre, one that believes every character deserves a happily ever after no matter who they are. And since queerness is wrapped up in who we love, romance books provide a particularly powerful tool for affirming queer identities.
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A book can be the first piece of art where queer people see themselves represented fully and joyfully, in all of love’s layers and complexities. Like the queer love stories that have come before them, Heated Rivalry’s Shane and Ilya join a storied history of queer media, one that has been building to this cultural moment for generations. With this larger stage comes a larger impact, one that ushers in new readers who might create their own stories.
It’s a very exciting time to be impacting the next generation of talent. I can’t wait to see the even bigger and brighter stories that come from our next class of writers. What will we dare to imagine is possible next?
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