We are thrilled to announce that, effective October 1, 2020, we have disaffiliated from Romance Writers of America (RWA) and are now operating as an independent tax-exempt romance writing organization under the name New England Romance Writers (NERW). NERW will continue to serve our members through education, networking, and advocacy, and will continue to educate the public about the breadth and diversity of the romance genre.
NERW’s disaffiliation from RWA is a major milestone for our organization, which had been an RWA chapter since 1987. We began discussing our future in January 2020, voted in March 2020 to disaffiliate from RWA by no later than September 30, 2020, and are now fully separated from RWA. This step represents many months of hard work and steadfast leadership by our present and former officers and directors.
NERW is proud that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a cornerstone of our newly revised bylaws, mission, and values. But our journey isn’t over. Our leaders and members will be continuing our efforts to embed DEI within and throughout the organization.
We look forward to welcoming back former members and to meeting everyone newly joining us. If you write romance, you are invited to join NERW, regardless of your race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, body size, age, religion, ancestry, national or ethnic origin, immigration status, employment status, marital status, pregnancy status, ability or disability, genetic information, veteran status, socioeconomic status, and political affiliation. Give our friendly and knowledgeable community a try—dues for the remainder of 2020 are only $5. We hope to see you at one of our virtual meetings soon!
To learn more, visit our new website at https://www.nerw.org. You can receive important announcements by joining our interim email loop at https://groups.io/g/NERW-Interim, following us on Twitter at @NERomWriters, and liking our Facebook Page at @NERomWriters. Please reach out to NERW President Alexa Rowan with questions at [email protected].