Literary Café: Romance Writers Talk Happily Ever After

Today’s romance novel has come a long way and is one of the hottest genres in publishing. Readers agree—romance novels made up several of the most popular reads at Cary Memorial Library in 2024. For this first Literary Café of 2025, we’ll feature three romance authors—Kate Cochrane (WAKE UP, NAT AND DARCY), Thien-Kim Lam (HAPPY ENDINGS, FULL EXPOSURE, and the forthcoming SOMETHING CHEEKY), and Nikki Payne (PRIDE AND PROTEST and SEX, LIES AND SENSIBILITY)—to discuss writing happily ever afters (HEAs) that pull readers in, creating love stories that sizzle, and subverting old ideas about what a romance novel is and can be. Our panelists will also address what drew them to writing romance and how their writing careers have developed. Hosted by Cary Memorial Library Foundation Board Member Kimberly Hensle Lowrance.

Registration is required. 

This event was generously shared with us by the Cary Memorial Library to share with our patrons and is sponsored by the Cary Library Foundation.

About Kate Cochrane:

Kate Cochrane grew up in rural New Hampshire and played Division I ice hockey at Dartmouth College. She received her law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law and practiced as an attorney for four years before becoming a stay-at-home mom to her two children while her wife completed her residency and fellowship. Now, she works as a Law Librarian. In 2017, she was a fellow in the Lambda Literary Writer's Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices in the YA cohort.

About Thien-Kim Lam:

Thien-Kim Lam writes stories about Vietnamese characters who smash stereotypes and find their happy endings. A recovering Type-Asian, she guzzles cà phê sữa đá, makes art, and bakes her feelings to stay sane. Her debut book Happy Endings was a Washington Post Romance Novel of the Year. Her Mardi Gras romance Full Exposure is a love letter to her Vietnamese community in Louisiana.

Thien-Kim also coaches writers of color and is an EDSE certified sex educator and the founder of Bawdy Bookworms. She’s been featured on Jezebel, Bustle, Entertainment Weekly, and Oprah Daily.

About Nikki Payne:

Nikki Payne is an anthropologist who can. not. turn. it. off.
"I love to force my characters into new environments  new cultures and in finding love, they change the way they see the world. Church, cemeteries and romance novels are still the most segregated places in America. My romances, inspired by the classics turn expectations on their head. It's cultural commentary, for the hopeless romantic."