A Week of Love & Lust
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‘Romance novels’ have something of a bad rap. Mills and Boons, Harlequins, steamy romps featuring rippling torsos and swarthy Adonises: they’re too often typecast as guilty pleasures. But there’s roaring trade in this neglected artform. Whether dressed up as ‘literary’ or unabashedly commercial, ‘chicklit’, teen fiction or a pulpy delight, there’s a fine art to convincingly writing about love.
The ABC’s Alan Brough grills writers who’ve made romance their business.
Who?

Lili Wilkinson
Lili Wilkinson is the award-winning author of twelve YA novels, including Pink, Green Valentine and The Boundless Sublime. She established the insideadog website, the Inky Awards and the Inkys Creative Reading Prize at the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria. She has a PhD in Creative Writing, and lives in Melbourne with her husband, son, dog and three chickens. Her latest book is After the Lights Go Out.

Stephanie Laurens
Author of more than 42 romance titles, Stephanie Laurens has hit the New York Times bestseller list with her last 23 books.

Alan Brough
Alan Brough was born in New Zealand and is quite a bit older than he'd like to be. Alan has always loved books and, from an early age, wanted to be a writer. Then he and his Dad went to see Star Wars and Alan decided that, actually, he really, really, really, really, really wanted to be an actor.
After having been an actor for a while Alan realised there wasn't that much work for a 6'4" guy with a slightly lopsided face and thick curly hair so he tried his hand at directing, broadcasting, composing, dancing (true!), singing and, in an unexpected turn of events, being a professional music nerd.
Recently, he got around to being a writer.
One day he hopes to have a bio that includes phrases like 'bestselling', 'award-winning' and 'so successful that he recently bought a solid gold toilet' but, until then, he's just happy to look at his copy of Charlie and the War Against the Grannies and think: 'Cool! I wrote a book!'