Statement by NERW’s Board of Directors regarding Atlanta Attacks

STATEMENT BY NEW ENGLAND ROMANCE WRITERS’ BOARD OF DIRECTORS REGARDING ATLANTA ATTACKS

When New England Romance Writers became an independent romance writing organization last fall, we strengthened our commitment to embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion. In the face of last week’s horrifying attacks in Atlanta, we cannot now remain silent.

These racist acts of violence are unfortunately just the most recent in this country’s long and shameful history of inequality and bigotry toward Asians and Asian Americans, women, and other marginalized groups. We unequivocally condemn these attacks, and we stand by and support our Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander members and all romance writers who are part of these communities.

On behalf of NERW, we want to reiterate that NERW welcomes members of all marginalized groups, and we believe that happily ever afters are for everyone. Racism, misogyny, ageism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia, bigotry, othering, body-shaming, and hate in all its forms are not tolerated within our organization. We know we have more work to do, and we join our members in rededicating ourselves to ensuring that NERW embodies its ideals and core values.

To learn more about anti-Asian violence and what you can do to combat it, please visit https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/.

March 21, 2021 Meeting – Overcoming Writer’s Block with Meryl Wilsner

Our March 21st monthly meeting will start with a workshop presented by author Meryl Wilsner on Overcoming Writer’s Block, which will be followed by our monthly business and social meeting.

Headshot of author Meryl Wilsner wearing a yellow shirt with white polka dotsWorkshop Description: There’s not a group of people more adept at procrastinating than writers, which makes it all the more important for us to be able to write when we actually sit down to do so. This workshop explores common reasons behind writer’s block and provides hands-on practice at different techniques for overcoming it.

Bio: Meryl Wilsner writes stories of queer women falling in love. Born in Michigan, Meryl lived in Portland, Oregon and Jackson, Mississippi before recently returning to the Mitten State. Their debut novel, Something to Talk About, received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal, as well as being one of Amazon, Kirkus, and NPR’s best books of 2020. Some of Meryl’s favorite things include: all four seasons, button down shirts, the way giraffes run, and their wife.