by Kate

The Sydney Writer’s Festival is next week. Here are the places to see Escape Managing Editor, Kate Cuthbert.

Thursday, 21 May, 2:30 – 3:30pm – Forest For The Trees
To Market, To Market
How do publishers identify the target audience for a book and how do they make sure books and readers find each other? Hear how decisions are made on everything from acquisition through to marketing, with Kate Cuthbert, Managing Editor, Escape Publishing, Anna Valdinger, Fiction Publisher, HarperCollins and Aviva Tuffield, Publisher, Affirm Press.

Saturday 23 May, 1:30 – 2:30pm – Beyond Dukes and Damsels
Girl is a sweet ingenue. Boy is a brooding rake. Girl meets boy. Boy seduces girl. Girl becomes less innocent. Boy becomes less rakish. This is the world-weary stereotype that romance novels constantly bump up against. In the real world (of fiction), romantic heroes and heroines have been evolving since the genre began. How exactly has the fantasy of sexiness changed over time? And what subversive tropes are emerging in the sub-genres? Jodi McAlister speaks with Harlequin’s Kate Cuthbert, and authors Victoria Purman and Avril Tremayne to discuss new models of romantic love.