Beverly Jenkins on the Importance of Black 19th Century Romance

February 17, 2021

At NPR, Beverly Jenkins, known as the queen of of Black historical romance, discusses the importance of the genre reflecting the identities of those who read it. “There’s a lot more African and African American women, women of color, all identities, really, now writing romance,” Jenkins says. “And that’s one of the great things about the genre. It’s starting to reflect the country.”

is a writer and illustrator. She is the author of two illustrated books, Last Night's Reading (Penguin Books, 2015) and Sanpaku (Archaia 2018).