Hey Romance Lovers!

I'm exhausted. Who knew putting on a literary festival would be so exhausting? Well, to be honest, this girl did, and yet I ran into the fire. Because apparently that's what I do.

I know that things are slow to start, but as we get going and our team grows, I know they'll pick up speed and pretty soon we'll be on the other side of the event wondering where all the time has gone LOL

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Lasairiona McMaster, I write under two pennames, sports (hockey and rugby) under Lasairiona McMaster, and BDSM/Kink and Mafia romance under Lasairiona Lewis.

I'm a sourdough wanker, I love to bake, and sing, and long drives up the coast. I'm a mother to a preteen who'll turn 13 on his next birthday and speaks fluent gamer (and I do not.)

And I'm setting up this festival because I'm so sick of the romance genre being the dirty stepchild of publishing on this island. It's time for that to change. And change has to start at home.

I hope this newsletter will be sent out 1-2 times a month until we get closer to the event and it might be weekly in the lead up, but I'm not going to beat you over the head (much...)

And for what it's worth? I think you should come to our festival, and bring your romance loving book friends.

Can't wait to share this wild ride with all of you. It's going to be great!

Lasairiona McMaster - RLF founder.

If you've been looking at our website at all, you'll have spied a few authors names are out of the bag. It would be a bit weird if I was putting on a literary festival and didn't have a table, right?

Lasairiona McMaster

Lasairiona writes sassy, classy, and unapologetically badassy women—and the strong-yet-vulnerable men who love them. As Lasairiona McMaster, she delivers steamy sports romances that hit just as hard off the ice as on it. As Lasairiona Lewis, she cranks up the heat with kinky, BDSM stories that explore relationships at their most raw and real.

A proudly queer author, she champions inclusivity and diversity, often bringing her own bisexuality to the page with own-voices representation.

Tracie Delaney

My co-author in crime, one of my best friends, Tracie Delaney writes billionaire romance where the men fall hard and the women make them work for it. Even though she has more than 35 novels published across many different series, Tracie still considers herself a reader first and foremost and loves fangirling over her favourite authors.

At night she likes to curl up on the sofa with her two furbabies, Murphy & Cooper, and binge-watch shows on Netflix. There may be wine involved.

Shauna Adams

Another of my author friends and hockey friends, Shauna Adams is an Irish romance author who lives in Belfast with her husband, two children and three adorable cats.

On the nights she isn’t cheering on the Belfast Giants Ice Hockey team, she loves nothing more than curling up with a mug of coffee and a good book – Dark Romance, Rom-Coms, Romantasy as long as it’s hot and spicy.

Tickets: Tickets are available to purchase here, at https://romanceliteraryfestival.eventbrite.com

If you're a published author and want to join us for our day two author event, you should grab a ticket. They're limited and going fast.

Jess Snyder

Title: The Architecture of Obsession: How Jacob Tierney and Heated Rivalry built devotion scene by scene (and you can too!)

Description: Most romance writers know what to write. We’re going to learn how to make readers feral. Using Heated Rivalry (the show, not the book) as a masterclass, this course teaches the technical storytelling devices—callbacks, character specificity, pacing, symbolic talismans, and more—that turn casual readers into an obsessed fandom that looks for all the tiny details they missed the first two (eight, forty-one…) times they read the book.

Tracie Delaney

Title: Is TikTok dead? Marketing in 2027 and beyond

Description: The landscape of publishing is a never-ending rollercoaster and the last couple of years has brought challenges including AI books flooding the market, and social media and advertising platforms “not working” any longer. In this session we’ll discuss the various ways we can still get our books in front of rabid readers, and talk bluntly about what it takes to succeed in 2027 and beyond.

How else to keep up to date with our shenanigans? Attendee's Facebook group, Facebook page, follow us on socials: @romanceliteraryfestival, or check out our website.