Romance Writers of America Rescind Award for Lakota Genocide Redemption Narrative

Publication year
2021
Journal
Library Journal
Comment

Discusses the institutional and genre background to the RWA's decision to award

one of its new Vivian awards to At Love’s Command by Karen Witemeyer, a historical romance that most observers saw as glorifying the genocide of Lakota people at the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. For librarians, this never-ending storm of controversies raises questions about whether RWA’s awards should be considered a useful tool for collection development or readers’ advisory when it comes to the romance genre.