Kacen Callender | |
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Born | September 19, 1989 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Education | BA in Japanese and Creative Writing, MFA in Writing for Children |
Alma mater | Sarah Lawrence College, The New School |
Years active | 2018–present |
Notable works | |
Notable awards | |
Website | |
kacencallender |
Kacen Callender (born September 19, 1989) is a Saint Thomian author of children's fiction and fantasy, best known for their Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award—winning middle grade debut Hurricane Child.[1] Their fantasy novel, Queen of the Conquered, is the 2020 winner of the World Fantasy Award[2] and King and the Dragonflies won the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Children's / Young Adult Literature.[3][4]
Callender was born in 1989 and raised in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.[5] Callender has a bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Japanese and Creative Writing and a MFA from The New School's Writing for Children program.[6]
Prior to becoming an author, Callender was an editor at Little, Brown Book Group.[7] In 2018, in reaction to Hurricane Irma, Callender launched the online auction #USVIPubFund, under which they and other book publishing professionals raised $104,000 to support the U.S. Virgin Islands.[8][9][10]
Callender is Black, queer, trans, and uses they/them and he/him pronouns.[11][12] Callender debuted their new name when announcing their next young adult novel Felix Ever After in May 2019.[13]
They currently live in St. Thomas.
Their debut novel, Hurricane Child, about a twelve-year-old born during a hurricane who believes herself to be cursed, was published by Scholastic in 2018 and received the Stonewall Book Award in 2019.[1]
Both Hurricane Child and Callender's young adult debut, This is Kind of an Epic Love Story, were nominated for a 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Children's / Young Adult Literature.[14] Hurricane Child went on to win the award.[15]
Their second young adult novel, Felix Ever After, is about a transgender teen who catfishes a classmate for revenge and ends up falling for him.[13] Felix Ever After was published with Balzer + Bray in 2020 and sold together with This is Kind of an Epic Love Story in November 2017.[13][16]
King and the Dragonflies, Callender's second middle-grade novel that explores race and sexuality, was published in 2020.[17] It received a starred review from School Library Journal,[18] Horn Book,[19] and Publishers Weekly.[20]
Their adult debut, Queen of the Conquered, was published by Orbit in 2019. It is set in a Caribbean-inspired fantasy world and tells the story of a biracial black woman who fights to retain power in a society that loathes the idea of her.[21] It received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews[22] and School Library Journal.
King and the Dragonflies was named the winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Children's / Young Adult Literature at the 33rd Lambda Literary Awards in 2021.[23]