I’ve seen some in my local libraries, but not in the bookshops. The Kimani line isn’t available from M&B (neither are many other US Harlequin lines, including Harlequin American and the Inspirational romance imprints). The ones I’ve read came from the library or the Book Depository. There have been a (very) few romances with AA characters in other M&B lines (from memory I can remember this one).

@Laura Vivanco: Is it easy to find Kimani romances/other non-white romances in bookshops in the UK? I ask because I have never seen them in Ireland. Then again, I haven’t lived there in more than a decade, so that might have changed. There’s also a very small number of non-white people living in Ireland in comparison to the UK, so perhaps that plays a role.

@Keira Soleore: “…you feel like you’re on the outside looking in, and better to refrain and not offend, than to attempt to participate and blow it.”
This is precisely why I hesitated to write this post, and why I’m wary about participating in discussions on racism in publishing/romance novels around the blogs. As a white person, there’s always the risk I’ll get it terribly wrong and offend people without meaning to. However, the alternative is to say nothing at all which only serves to exacerbate the problem. If people have an issue with whitewashing of book covers, segregation of romances featuring non-white characters, they should speak out, regardless of the colour of their skin.

However, if we’re to move forward to a much more integrated multi-racial society as whole, dialogue and reading has to be a part of it. Only if you understand can there be no sense of The Other. The Other-ing is what leads to misunderstandings and racial discrimination. How can you warm up to someone you can’t fathom?

I comprehend the Caucasian majority wanting to protect their turf (emotional, social, economical, etc.) from other racial minorities. Those minorities are also trying to protect what little they can grab hold of and reserve from the majority. This is instinctive (akin to sibling rivalry) at its most benign non-racist form. (Not talking about blatant racial hatred here.)

However, to even this gap between the haves and have-nots, the only way to do so is to communicate and go through the awkward “dating” phase of getting to know each other.

I really don’t think they are. There’s some prejudice in both directions between the Scots and the English, but you can find lots of English people living in Scotland, and occupying positions of power/authority. Similarly, there are lots of Scottish people living in England and occupying positions of authority (and that includes the Prime Minister and the Chancellor). There are no parts of Scottish cities which are known as places where English people live, and there are no parts of English cities which are known for being places where Scots live. Nobody that I can recall has ever commented on the fact that I’m Scottish and married to someone who’s English. No-one has ever commented that my child might have difficulties relating to both of his cultures, or that he might face prejudice because of his mixed heritage.

I’m not sure what you mean when you refer to differences between the “Northern Irish and the English” since both the Unionists and Nationalists tend to live in Northern Ireland.

“if she’s perfectly happy being fat and doesn’t have any issues with her body, then we get a couple sentences in Chapter One about how she looks and it’s really not mentioned again. In which case, it’s not a romance with a fat heroine, it’s a romance with a heroine who happens to have brown hair, blue-grey eyes, and is fat. In other words, no biggie.”

That’s how race is dealt with in the Kimani (Harlequin) romances I’ve read. The couple are both African American, but to paraphrase part of your quote, they’re romances with protagonists who happen to be African-American. In other words, no biggie.

My junior high school and high school, while racially and economically integrated and thus seemingly removed from the issues of busing in the late 60s and early 70s, were still socially stratified. White kids were friends with white kids, black kids were friends with black kids, and I wasn’t friends with much of anyone. (No boo-hoo about that, btw. Mostly the result of my weirdness, the fact that I lived in a historic district with few other kids at my school, and being fat — in that order.)

But I didn’t really attempt to bridge those social and racial divides until law school, and by then (mid-90s) it didn’t seem possible. It made sense that the black students hung out together. I could be friendly with them, but there was a lot about their situation(s) I didn’t understand. Maybe my mind wasn’t open to it, but maybe my mind couldn’t be open to their experience: You either knew it or you didn’t.

(And to Sarah & Maili — I would argue that the experience between blacks and whites in the UK isn’t entirely analogous to the situation between whites and blacks in the US because of the legacy of slavery, racial discrimination, and the resulting economic consequences. In fact, I wonder — without actually knowing! — if the race relations in the US aren’t more analogous to the nationalist issues between, say, Scots and the English, or Northern Irish and the English.)

As for a book about a fat heroine, I’ve seen it done. (Jennifer Weiner’s Good in Bed starts out great, but then gets implausible half-way through when — based on what I know of the author’s real life — Cannie stops leading a fictionalized version of Jen’s life and starts having completely fictional adventures and endings.) But it’s a tough sell in a romance. Either the resulting novel is a menage-a-trois with the hero, the heroine, and her bodysize, or the issue of her feelings about her body compete with the romance. If the romance wins, that suggests that all it takes for the heroine to feel good about herself is the hero’s love; that’s a bit demeaning, isn’t it? And if her feelings about her body win out over the romance, then it’s not a very romance-y romance.

And if she’s perfectly happy being fat and doesn’t have any issues with her body, then we get a couple sentences in Chapter One about how she looks and it’s really not mentioned again. In which case, it’s not a romance with a fat heroine, it’s a romance with a heroine who happens to have brown hair, blue-grey eyes, and is fat. In other words, no biggie.

But do I want to read a romance about a fat heroine? Not really. For me, personally, it’s distracting. A woman’s issues with her body size aren’t very interesting to me, and that she can fall in love and be happy because/despite/regardless of her obesity is okay but not particularly compelling.

Truthfully, I don’t think my own romances would be very compelling in fictional form: very happy endings, and the heroes are both lovely (if quirky) guys, but I think the heroine is too old and, yes, too fat to be worth writing about or reading about. Am I prejudiced against obese heroines? Yeah, probably. And here I don’t expect you to trust me. While I would argue that’s just the result of a surfeit of personal experience, I may well be prejudiced against women of size. Possibly because of the patriarchy…

Now Koomson is an author that I go out of my way to read every time a new book comes out.

That’s, he implied, the reason why most ‘white’ shows have only one or two non-white regulars. Especially those that started out with multicultural casts. When advertisers demand higher ratings, producers eventually kick off or kill non-white regular characters to improve the ratings in order to sell advertising space at premium prices. And most times, it worked. He believed that that was why most capitalised on having largely white cast with a token ethnic card in mainstream shows, especially daytime drama and prime time crime drama. It’s rather sad to note that the speaker’s observations still stand today.

Look at ‘Lost’ as the latest example. As for wanting an all-white cast? Desperate Housewives, anyone? Friends? Six Feet Under. 24 (I have loads of problems with this bloody series, but let’s not go there! ). House. Firefly, Farscape, etc.

This don’t represent the multicultural society, which is why I feel the under-represented and conditioning issue will continue for as long as television keeps peddling all-white regular casts as part of their pursuit of high ratings. I have a problem with the ratings itself as well as its system is flawed and rather inaccurate, but that’s another issue for another day.

I’ve obviously simplified all that, but you get the idea.