Writer Kennedy Ryan uses romance novels as a vehicle for discourse
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What challenges did Kennedy Ryan face in the romance genre?
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. Say the words romance novel and watch what happens. Some people light up, others roll their eyes, almost nobody is neutral. It's the best-selling fiction in the world, outselling mysteries and thrillers, and yet it's still the genre people feel they have to defend or apologize for. I've always wanted to know, what makes a writer choose a genre that has historically been shunned by critics and mainstream publishing? My guest today, Kennedy Ryan, is one of those writers. And in some ways, her path is typical of the field. For one, Kennedy Ryan isn't her real name. Many romance writers use pen names. She didn't get her first publishing deal until 40, which is also common.
45 is the average age of the genre's most successful writers. Kennedy Ryan's love for romance began in middle school, when she'd sneak the books past her mom, who was a preacher. She came back to it after building a career in journalism and autism advocacy. Her characters are the people romance often leaves at the margins—Black and Indigenous, queer women, people living with disabilities, navigating ambition, caregiving, and grief— Ryan builds them the way she once built news stories, by going out and interviewing real people first. Ryan is the first Black writer to win romance's highest honor, the Romance Writers of America Award, known as the Rita. Her best-selling novel, Before I Let Go, is being adapted for Peacock, and her latest book, Score, follows two former college sweethearts reunite it while making a film about the Harlem Renaissance.
Kennedy Ryan, welcome to Fresh Air. Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here. read fiction but people are so drawn to romance romance outsells every other kind of fiction but critics have been kind of condescending about it for hundreds of years you looked at romance and decided this is where you want to go this you want to go all in what was it about romance for you
Yeah, I think, like you said, I was young when I first discovered romance. I think it was one of my first introductions to seeing what relationships looked like. Besides, obviously, the one that was in my house, which was very healthy, fortunately, with my mom and my dad. But I liked, I think, the escape of it, too. I mean, I was only in the eighth grade. But I liked being transported kind of to another world. And there was a glamour to it, especially then. So this is like the heyday of the Bodice Rippers and Harlequin Presents. And so it was usually a very glamorous kind of setting. And I was living in rural North Carolina with, like, deer on my front porch, you know, so... The glamour of it, I think, really drew me, and just this idea that you could be in another world, and also that just kind of seeing women especially loved, you know, loved and esteemed and at the center of something.
I was a voracious reader, so I was reading a lot of things, but romance quickly became my favorite. And so and, you know, I left it a little bit after high school. But in my 30s, I came back because it was an escape. And I think it was a reflection of a lot of hopes and dreams and desires and needs. And I think that's what draws a lot of people to it.
You know, every romance novel more or less kind of has the same bones. It's like two people who have this intense attraction to each other and then something is keeping them apart. And then in the end, there's always a happy ending. Love wins in the end. And millions of writers have kind of worked inside of the same structure. What do you think makes you different?
Oh, I don't. I think that each author, I don't think that I'm exceptional. You know what I mean? I think that each author has to figure out kind of their why. And what I mean by that is why are you writing? I think for me, I am interested in discourse. You know, it is the, you know, guy meets girl or girl meets girl or guy meets guy.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What challenges did Kennedy Ryan face in the romance genre?
0:00–6:54
2
How does Kennedy Ryan incorporate diverse characters in her novels?
6:54–10:41
3
What unique storytelling approach does Kennedy Ryan use in her writing?
10:41–19:29
4
How does Kennedy Ryan's personal background influence her work?
19:29–26:55
5
What role does advocacy play in Kennedy Ryan's life and writing?
26:55–32:58
6
How does Kennedy Ryan address themes of mental health in her stories?
32:58–39:44
7
What insights does Kennedy Ryan offer about romance and empowerment?
39:44–47:03
8
What is the significance of the happily-ever-after in Kennedy Ryan's novels?
47:03–50:00
Speakers
7 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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