FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE (M) June 2, 2025

TOLEDO LIBRARY ADDS FOUR FEATURED AUTHORS TO ROMANCE-CON LINEUP

Nikki Payne, Chip Pons, C.M. Nascosta and Julie Soto join headlining author Kennedy Ryan for the literary convention

TOLEDO, Ohio — When Romance-Con, the Toledo Lucas County Public Library’s day-long romance book convention, returns to Main Library on Saturday, Nov. 8, customers will see some new and returning faces among the featured author lineup.

          The 2025 Romance-Con featured authors are Nikki Payne, Chip Pons, C.M. Nascosta and Julie Soto, who is returning for the second year. They join New York Times and USA Today best-selling romance author Kennedy Ryan, who is headlining this year’s convention.

          Romance-Con is a literary celebration where romance readers connect with fellow fans and authors through talks, workshops, panel discussions and an author fair featuring more than 50 independently and traditionally published romance writers from across the country. The event also includes ticketed conversations with Ryan, Payne, Pons, Nascosta and Soto.

          Romance-Con is free and open to the public. Free tickets for headlining and featured author conversations will be available in August at toledolibrary.org. Toledo Library traditional cardholders will have first access to author conversation tickets, followed by the general public. To sign up for a traditional library card, visit any Toledo Library location or begin the process at toledolibrary.org/card.

          Approximately 2,500 people attended the inaugural Romance-Con in 2024. The event featured best-selling romance authors Abby Jimenez, Kimberly Lemming, Kathryn Moon, Jo Segura and Soto, along with more than 40 additional authors in the author fair.

          Visit toledolibrary.org/romance-con for more information. Please note that program details are subject to change.

About Romance-Con’s headlining author, Kennedy Ryan

          Kennedy Ryan “writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies,” according to her website. Her work has been featured in NPR, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, TIME and other national and international publications.

          Ryan’s work has earned multiple awards, including the 2022 Audie Award® for the audio edition of her novel Reel, the first book in her Hollywood Renaissance series. Additionally, Peacock is developing her Skyland series for television.

About the Romance-Con featured authors

          By day, Nikki Payne is a Civic anthropologist building accessible government services for vulnerable populations. By night, she dreams of ways to subvert Canon literature. Hailed as “incandescent” by the Washington Post, Nikki Payne’s debut novel Pride and Protest was a Phenomenal Book Club pick and was selected by the Library of Congress to represent the District of Columbia for the National Book Festival. Featured in the New York Times, NPR, Elle, Oprah Daily and BuzzFeed, Nikki Payne is writing Black women into their happily ever after.

          Chip Pons grew up in a small lake town in northern Michigan before eventually traveling the world as a photojournalist in the United States Air Force, where he met and worked alongside his dream of a husband and better half. He’s spent his entire life swooning over the love stories filling up his shelves until one day, he was brave — or delusional — enough to write his own. He currently lives in the heart of Washington, D.C. When he is not writing or chasing his pup, Margot, around, he can be found daydreaming of untold happily ever afters or on Bookstagram shouting about the books he loves. And snacking, like, all the time.

          C.M. Nascosta is a USA TODAY bestselling author and professional procrastinator from Cleveland, Ohio. She’s always preferred beasts to boys, the macabre to the milquetoast, the unknown darkness in the shadows to the Chad next door. She lives in a crumbling old Victorian with a scaredy-cat dachshund, where she writes nontraditional romances featuring beastly boys with equal parts heart and heat, and is waiting for the Hallmark Channel to get with the program and start a paranormal lovers series.

          Julie Soto is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, playwright and actress originally from Sacramento, Calif. Her musical “Generation Me” won the 2017 New York Musical Festival’s Best Musical award, as well as Best Book for her script. She is a musical theater geek, fandom nerd and the author of many spicy fan fictions. Julie now lives in Fort Bragg, Calif., with her dog, Charlie. She is probably drinking coffee and thinking about “Interview with the Vampire” as you read this.

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About the Toledo Lucas County Public Library Founded in 1838, the Toledo Lucas County Public Library serves as the go-to community connector for makers, doers and dreamers across Northwest Ohio. With 20 locations plus Mobile Services in Lucas County, Ohio, the Toledo Library empowers individuals and enhances the quality of life in its community by fostering a love of reading, lifelong learning and social connections. Through its collections, innovative programs, partnerships and a commitment to inclusivity, the Toledo Library remains a vibrant cultural hub for the Toledo region.

For more information, please visit toledolibrary.org.