Join us May 16, 2009, at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center for a fabulous program with USA Today and NYT Times Bestselling Author Nora Roberts with Sarah Wendell of “Smart Bitches, Trashy Books”

You’d think that the reaction to plagiarism in the romance fiction community would be automatic outrage, but unfortunately, it’s not. In 1997, Nora Roberts faced plagiarism as a victim. In 2008, Sarah Wendell and others online revealed plagiarism on the part of another romance author. Both women faced similar reactions from members of the romance community, from outrage to threats to scolding for being so mean. Both the authors who committed acts of plagiarism and profited from them continue to publish to this day. Even with over ten years separating the two incidents, the reaction was nearly identical: the outrage, the vitriol against the whistle-blower and the sympathy for the perpetrator were all there. Yet nothing damages our community as writers and our careers as authors more than tolerating plagiarism. So it’s time to talk about the ugly facts about it, because if we don’t talk about plagiarism, it won’t go away.  More info on our meetings page.