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Not Your Mother's Romance Writers
This is a VIRTUAL event only — Advanced registration is required.
Presented in partnership with Simon & Schuster as part of their Spring 2024 Authorfest. Join TJ Alexander, Kaliane Bradley, & Jackie Lau in conversation with Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the duo behind the romance power-house Christina Lauren.
From fake relationships to star-crossed time travelers to queer throuples, these authors are not your mother’s romance writers.
Ahead of their upcoming releases, Alexander, Bradley, and Lau will discuss what makes a great romance, and how the genre can go beyond a simple love story.
In conversation with Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings.
Christina Lauren
![Christina Lauren Headshot](/https/www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/sites/www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/files/styles/medium/public/media/ChristinaLauren_PC%20ChristinaLauren.png?itok=F0hc5ccN)
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The #1 international bestselling coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced nineteen New York Times bestselling novels.
They are published in over 30 languages, have received multiple starred reviews, won both the Seal of Excellence and Book of the Year from RT Magazine, been inducted into the Library Reads Hall of Fame, named Amazon and Audible Romance of the Year, a Lambda Literary Award finalist and been nominated for several Goodreads Choice Awards.
TJ Alexander
![TJ Alexander Headshot](/https/www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/sites/www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/files/styles/medium/public/media/TJAlexander_TripleSec_PC_DemiYGuo.jpeg?itok=fT_vCACv)
TJ Alexander is a critically acclaimed author who writes about queer love. Originally from Florida, they received their MA in writing and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. They live in New York City with their wife and various houseplants.
Kaliane Bradley
![Kaliane Bradley Headshot](/https/www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/sites/www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/files/styles/medium/public/media/KalianeBradley_TheMinistryOfTime_PC_Robin%20Christian.jpeg?itok=9zNbuVgy)
Kaliane Bradley is a British-Cambodian writer and editor based in London. Her short fiction has appeared in Somesuch Stories, The Willowherb Review, Electric Literature, Catapult, and Extra Teeth, among others. She was the winner of the 2022 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Prize and the 2022 V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize.
Jackie Lau
![Jackie Lau Headshot](/https/www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/sites/www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/files/styles/medium/public/media/JackieLau_LoveLiesAndCherryPie_PC_Emily%20Ding.jpeg?itok=NCQehQei)
Jackie Lau decided she wanted to be a writer when she was in grade two, sometime between penning “The Heart That Got Lost” and “The Land of Shapes.” She later studied engineering and worked as a geophysicist before turning to writing romance novels. She is now the author of over twenty books.
Jackie lives in Toronto with her husband, and despite living in Canada her whole life, she hates winter. When she’s not writing, she enjoys gelato, gourmet donuts, cooking, hiking, and reading on the balcony when it’s raining.