Get your romance with your speed date

So a few months back I wrote up an item about “literary speed dating” that was taking place in an East Coast bookstore. Now the concept gets a little more genre-driven as Dorchester Publishing, responsible for all those mass-market romances and thrillers that show up in area drugstores, has teamed up with Cupid.com to sponsor speed-dating events in five major cities: New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, and Chicago. According to their press release, Dorchester will not only offset the cost of these events for attendees by 30 percent, but will give away romances and thrillers, as well as dating tips written by romance writers, starting with the launch event on May 9 at Manhattan’s Borgo Antico Restaurant.

“Our purpose in forming this partnership with Cupid.com is three-fold,” says Dorchester VP and Editorial Director Alicia Condon. “First and foremost, it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to participate in helping people make real-life connections. Second, we hope to re-educate readers about the romance genre, which has long been stigmatized and shuffled to the back of bookstores. And last but not least, it’s a chance for us to foster reading among those in an age bracket that publishers have long had trouble reaching.”

I suppose self-help speed dating may not catch on quite so well, though…

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