Love, Lore, and the Unknown: The Expanding Universe of Genre Fiction

From romantasy to cozy horror, today’s genre fiction is reshaping the bookstore shelves—and readers are loving it. We’ll explore how authors are weaving together elements of romance, mystery, horror, science fiction, and fantasy to create fresh, emotionally rich, and commercially magnetic stories—and how booksellers can meet reader demand across genres and age groups. Expect lively discussion, title recommendations from Sourcebooks imprints such as Bloom Books, Poisoned Pen Press, and Sourcebooks Casablanca, and practical tools to help you:

• Curate genre and hybrid genre sections with confidence
• Handsell genre and cross-genre books to every type of reader
• Build community through events and displays that highlight genre (and other types of!) diversity

If you’ve ever wondered how to shelve a fantasy romance with thriller pacing and a ghost in the attic—this session is for you!