To honor as many of the trailblazers of the genre as we could as part of the 2019 RITA Award Ceremony, RWA members worked to build the list below—featuring many of our earliest voices—with an eye toward finding and celebrating the early authors and books that have been left out of the spotlight during the nearly fifty years of the modern American romance genre.
A note on this list: Firsts are a challenge in any medium—there is often someone who came before, lesser known, and less celebrated. If you have additions or corrections to this list of romance trailblazers, please
let us know. Our genre’s history is vast and varied, and your knowledge is essential to ensuring it is remembered.
Thank you for reading and for remembering.
Watch the romance trailblazers video