Witches, Magic, and Wonder: An interview with young adult fantasy authors

Name: Witches, Magic, and Wonder: An interview with young adult fantasy authors
Start: 2026-03-05T17:00:00-06:00
End: 2026-03-05T20:00:00-06:00
Location: 5915 6th Ave A, Kenosha, WI, United States, Wisconsin 53140

Schedule

Thu Mar 05 2026 at 05:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

5915 6th Ave A, Kenosha, WI, United States, Wisconsin 53140 | Kenosha, WI

Join us on Thursday, March 5th, at 5 p.m. for a truly fantastical event. Megan Nigh, teen librarian at Kenosha Public Library, will interview four young adult fantasy authors: Akana Phenix ("The Empire Wars"), Alexis Henderson ("An Academy for Liars"), David Ferraro ("A Vile Season"), and D.L. Taylor ("The Beasts We Bury").
The event begins at 5 p.m. with a mocktail hour with fellow fantasy readers, then the panel discussion begins at 6 p.m. with our guest authors!
The group will discuss the inspiration behind their stories, how they built their magical world, and so much more! There will also be time for questions from the audience and book signing with all four authors!
Cosplay Contest: Dress up in your favorite fantasy outfits or as your favorite magical character and you could win a prize!
This event is free, but registration is required. Get all the details and RSVP here: https://www.blue-house-books.com/events/3811220260305

About WAR HUNT:
War Hunt is the second and final thrilling installment in the acclaimed Empire Wars duology, set in a brutal world where one girl’s magic may hold the only hope for humanity’s survival.
Coa Rangecroft, survivor of the deadly Great Hunt, has been taken into custody by the American Armed forces. Now she is to be sold at auction to the highest corporate bidder. In return, America promises to keep her family safe and free from the genocidal Allied Force and to give Coa the opportunity to become an enhanced soldier.
Servitude, of course, requires swearing allegiance to the newly reborn nation. Coa must take a solemn oath to preserve America’s social order and to eliminate its enemies. Soon, she’s back where she started: fighting against her will on behalf of a brutal empire. Worse, the Allied Force has been humiliated by her “rescue” and plans to exact terrible revenge. Which means that Coa’s fate once again rests in the hands of Chief Princess Ife—the only one who can prevent a catastrophic attack that will render all of America’s promises to Coa meaningless.

About AKANA PHENIX:
Akana Phenix is an award-winning Harvard alum, novelist, and screenwriter. She loves reading translations of the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" in her spare time. She is a nostalgic 2000s kid, a film fanatic, and a fan of "The Office". She’s based in the United States.

About WHEN I WAS DEATH:
A group of girls does Death incarnate's bidding in this haunting speculative young adult novel by the author of "The Year of the Witching".
Roslyn isn’t herself anymore. It’s been a year since her sister, Adeline, died under mysterious circumstances, and Roslyn is still tormented by her absence. So when the elusive caravan of girls that Adeline spent her last summer with rolls back into town, Roslyn joins them to finally figure out what happened to her sister.
Strange, beautiful, and intriguing, the girls are closed off from the world. And as it turns out, they’re brought together by a force more sinister than Roslyn’s nightmares could’ve conjured up: Death himself.
Death has spared the girls from untimely endings, and to pay for their lives, the girls travel the country reaping souls on his behalf. Now Roslyn must decide if finding closure is worth the price of striking the same deal.

About ALEXIS HENDERSON:
Alexis Henderson is a speculative fiction writer with a penchant for dark fantasy, witchcraft, and cosmic horror. Her adult books include "The Year of the Witching", "House of Hunger", and "An Academy for Liars". Growing up in one of America’s most haunted cities, Savannah, Georgia, instilled in her a life-long love of ghost stories. When she doesn’t have her nose buried in a book, you can find her painting or watching horror movies with her feline familiar. "When I Was Death" is her first novel for young adults.

About SOUL OF A GENTLEMAN WITCH:
To win back his soul from the Devil, a cynical witch must decide if his own freedom is worth delivering a selfless boy to damnation.
Perpetually seventeen, Callum the green witch is indebted to the Devil until he fulfills 666 tasks. When Lucifer offers Callum an unusual job that will end Callum’s contract early and return his soul, Callum readily agrees. All Callum must do is ensure Augustus “Auggie” Sanderson makes it from London to New York by the next blood moon.
This proves more difficult than Callum could’ve predicted as power-hungry witch kings and queens, blood witches, and even necromancers are also out to capture Auggie. To deliver Auggie on time and win back his soul, Callum will need the help of his black cat familiar, his human assistant (whom he accidentally turned into a frog), a four-armed, tally undead witch, and Auggie himself—who seems too good to have made a deal with the Devil.
But if Auggie didn’t make a deal with the Devil, what awaits him in New York? And if Auggie doesn’t deserve his fate, is Callum willing to give up his own chance at freedom to save him?

About DAVID FERRARO:
David Ferraro grew up near Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was raised on a steady diet of comic books, horror movies and YA novels. He graduated with a B.A. in English and creative writing from St. Cloud State University, and currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his partner and a very spoiled tortoise. He is represented by Eva Scalzo of Speilburg Literary.

About THE BEASTS WE RAISE:
Marry her enemy. Save her realm. Forsake her heart. The heart-shattering conclusion to this dark fantasy duology is perfect for fans of Adrienne Young, Tricia Levenseller, and Brigid Kemmerer.
Newly-appointed Prime Mancella is desperate to keep the peace within her realm and within herself. Having recently acquired the power to physically split into separate versions of herself, her identity is beginning to fracture—along with her land, which is on the brink of war. The only semblance of normalcy in her life is her budding romance with thief-turned-confidant, Silver. . . at least until the mysterious Prime Reltas arrives at her doorstep asking, or rather demanding, her hand in marriage.
If Mance wants to avoid a fight that will devastate her realm, she’ll have to consider the proposal. Even if it destroys Silver. But Mance isn't ready to give up just yet. Desperate to free herself from the betrothal, Mance must seek allyship from other Primes and learn to control her new magic. If she fails, her decision to refuse Reltas's proposal will implode the delicate state of affairs across the realms, setting off a catastrophic war—and shatter two hearts in the process.

About D.L. TAYLOR:
D.L. Taylor is an attorney by trade. She’s worked in criminal defense and civil non-profit law, but writing has always had a special hold on her heart. Though she hails from the sunny lands of California, she married a Midwestern boy and ended up settling down outside Chicago. She has three kids, two cats, and minimal sanity, but in the quiet hours before dawn she likes to write about magic, mischief, and moral quandaries. The Broken Citadel duology is her debut.