Celebrating 50 years of romance

2010 is a very special year for the RNA. It’s our fiftieth anniversary.

As President Diane Pearson says, ‘Fifty glorious years in which we have grown to a large organisation second-to-none in our professionalism, creativity and enthusiasm. We have a remarkable year lined up–a year to remember, in which we can look back to our beginning and also look forward to our continuing success.’

The celebration began with the publication of Loves Me, Loves Me Not, an anthology of short stories highlighting the talent of members, young and old, published and unpublished. The book was edited by Chair Katie Fforde and Sue Moorcroft- buy it now from Amazon.

Sue says, ‘All we had to do was ask and our members poured out stories of love in all its guises. Forty-four stories from authors bestselling, favourite and new are packed into this fabulous anthology, published by MIRA Books. A golden book for our golden anniversary. And the stories are pure gold, too, stories of joy and heartbreak, past and present and even a few glimpses of what might be. Or never be. It’s everything you love about romantic fiction in one delicious volume. We challenge you to read it without your heart beating faster!’

Katie agrees: ‘It’s a real privilege and honour to have my name on the front of such a magnificent representation of the RNA’s talent. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate our 50th.’

Later in the year, the RNA is publishing a second book. Fabulous at Fifty will be a series of reminiscences by members, and extracts from the RNA archives, charting the humour and heartbreak, the hard work and the honours of the past 50 years.

In conjunction with Woman’s Weekly and libraries throughout the UK, we are also inviting readers to look back and remember their favourite romantic novels of the last 50 years. Nominations have now closed. Voting on the top 30 titles will be by Woman’s Weekly readers in May and the short list in July. The winning title will be announced in September 2010.