UNSUITABLE #21: Barbara Claypole White

UNSUITABLE #21: When Romance Isn’t ‘Trashy’

On Fiction and Perception with Barbara Claypole White

“Women’s Fiction” is a broad category including contemporary blockbusters like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Nicholas Sparks’s The Notebook, as well as light popular comedy like Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’ Diary and rich historical narratives like Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale. If all of these novels include central love stories, why aren’t they considered part of the huge romance genre? What determines how a novel will be packaged and sold: quality of writing, author platform, the seriousness of issues in the story, cover images, publicity and marketing departments, booksellers, or reader expectations? One author shares her experiences writing and publishing women’s fiction in the new millennium. Join us for a public conversation with author Barbara Claypole White.

Free and open to the public. Light lunch served. Co-sponsors include Duke’s Forum for Scholars and Publics, African & African American Studies, History Department, Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Religious Studies, Kenan Institute for Ethics, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, #Artstigators, and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute.