Kacen Callender author page

Kacen Callender biography

Kacen Callender is an author of children’s, young adult, and adult fiction. They grew up in Saint Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands. Callender studied at Sarah Lawrence College and earned an MFA from The New School. Their writing often explores themes of identity and belonging.

Callender’s debut middle grade novel, Hurricane Child, was published by Scholastic in 2018. The book follows a young girl growing up in the Caribbean and has received recognition for its portrayal of complex emotions and relationships. In 2019, Callender published the young adult novel This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story with Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins.

In 2020, Callender’s young adult novel Felix Ever After was released by Balzer + Bray. The story centres on a transgender teen navigating love and self-discovery. Callender has also written for adults, including the novel Queen of the Conquered, published by Orbit in 2019.

Callender’s work has been recognised with several awards. Hurricane Child won the Stonewall Book Award in 2019. King and the Dragonflies, published by Scholastic in 2020, received the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2020.