Episode 4: Original Arabesque Author Margie Walker

Black Romance Has A History

This week's guest is Margie Walker. Her second book, A Sweet Refrain, was part of the second month of the Arabesque line alongside Beguiled by Eboni Snoe. She talks with us about her early days as a writer, the community of Black romance authors that formed in the early 1990s, what projects she's been up to in the years since as a screenwriter, and much more.

Thanks again to Margie Walker for joining us this week! You can find several of Margie’s books on Kindle Unlimited, and her Arabesque titles are plentiful on the secondary market. You can also see Margie’s short films on Vimeo. In the episode, Margie mentions a table reading of one of her screenplays, which was held by Scriptwriters Houston, an writer’s organization that Margie is on the board of. Check them out if you’re in the area!

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music by Purple Planet

Follow the hosts on the interwebs:

Steve Ammidown

Website: https://romancehistory.com/about/

Socials

IG: @romancehistorian

Bluesky: @stegan.bsky.social

Nicole M. Jackson/Katrina Jackson

Websites:

https://www.katrinajacksonauthor.com

https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/history/faculty-and-staff/nicole-jackson.html

Socials

IG: @katjacksonbooks

Margie Walker

Website: https://www.margiewalker.net/

You can find Margie's self-published work on Amazon: In Blood Only, Stolen Moments, and A Slice of Reparations

Add Margie’s books to your collection of Black romance history: https://www.biblio.com/book/love-signals-romance-black-margie-walker/d/1432105955

Mentioned in this Episode:

Margie Walker's first book was Love Signals, published by Marron Books as part of their "Romance In Color" series. If you're looking for it, notice that "Romance In Color" is the only thing that appears on the cover. There are two titles in the series, but this is Love Signals:

Margie mentions the cover of Conspiracy as one that fans thought was really hot, and she isn't kidding!

Margie mentions meeting Eva Rutland. Eva was a fascinating lady who was first published by Harlequin at the age of 71. Steve wrote about her on the Romance History blog a while back- she's someone worth learning more about!

“About Dafina” (2020) https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/pages/dafina/about-dafina/

Michelle Monkou, “In Memory of Monica Harris Mindolovich”, USA Today. November 2012. https://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2012/11/18/monica-harris-mindolovich-editor-entrepreneur-in-memoriam/1713295/

“Ten Years of Sizzling Chocolate Kisses and Lasting Love: now under BET Books, Arabesque Celebrates a Decade as Black Romance Publisher,” Reprint, The Free Library, https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ten+years+of+sizzling+chocolate+kisses+and+lasting+love%3A+now+under...-a0118954930

Gwynne Forster Papers, BGSU Browne Popular Culture Library https://lib.bgsu.edu/finding_aids/items/show/1671

Romance Slam Jam

Lithub: “From Local, to Global, to Gone: On the Rise and Fall of Borders Books,”

Further Reading/Listening

Arabesque profile in Romantic Times, July 1994: Page 1, Page 2.

Special Issue: Black Romance, Journal of Popular Romance Studies. https://www.jprstudies.org/issues/volume-11-general-articles-2/special-issue-black-romance/

Jamee Pritchard, “That 90's Kind of Love: the Rise of African American Romance Novels in Traditional Romance Publishing”, 2021. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2712/

Black Romance Podcast, “Sandra Kitt”. August, 2020. https://blackromancepodcast.libsyn.com/sandra-kitt

Black Romance Podcast, “Francis Ray and Anna Larence with Michelle Ray, Ann Fields and Margo Hendricks (Elysabeth Grace)“. May, 2023. https://blackromancepodcast.libsyn.com/francis-ray-and-anna-larence-with-michelle-ray-ann-fields-and-margo-hendricks-elysabeth-grace

Steve Ammidown, “Talking with the Inclusive Romance Project: An Incomplete History of the 20th century Romance Novel,” https://romancehistory.com/2023/05/23/talking-with-the-inclusive-romance-project/ “28 Publications from Dafina,” https://aalbc.com/authors/imprint.php?imprint=Dafina