About RWA: Our History

In 1980, 37 writers came together with a common goal of trying to find ways to grow their writing careers in romance fiction. At that time, there were very few writers' groups or conferences and those that existed largely ignored the romance genre. This group of 37 writers united together to create Romance Writers of America.

In a suburb outside Houston, Texas the founding members of RWA organized one of the first writers conference focused specifically on the romance genre. The 1st Annual Romance Writers of America's Conference was held in June 1981. They invited several editors from New York to attend the landmark conference to host talks on how to get published and break into the publishing business. The response to the conference was overwhelming and exceeded everyone's expectations. The expected attendance of 150 people turned into over 600 attendees and resulted in over 65 romance manuscripts sold during the event.

To this day, RWA hosts a National Conference each summer in a difference U.S. city. The Conference has grown to include:

• More than 100 workshops with topics ranging from beginning writing development to the business side of being a writer
• Publisher Spotlights which focus on what publishers are currently buying
• Chats with best-selling authors
• Individual appointments with romance publishing editors and agents
• An Awards Ceremony held yearly at the National Conference to recognize the best novels and manuscripts in the romance publishing industry.

The National Conference is scheduled to be in the following cities through 2013:

2009 - Washington, D.C.
2010 - Nashville, TN
2011 - New York, NY
2012 - San Diego, CA
2013 - Atlanta, GA