Rena Barron
Rena Barron is an American author of middle grade and young adult fiction, best known for her debut young adult fantasy novel Kingdom of Souls.
Early life
Barron grew up in small-town Alabama, where her family owned a farm, and says she's always had an obsession with science fiction and fantasy.Growing up, she heard a lot of stories about people practicing voodoo, which initially piqued her interest, since it was often talked about in a negative light. As a child, she was taught vodun, a West African spiritual practice, which served as the inspiration for her debut novel. The books she read most were adult, which she says is due to her love of complicated stories on the dark side, which wasn't as prevalent in children's literature at the time. Her favorite books were The Last Vampire series by Christopher Pike, the Animorphs series, and many books by R.L. Stine.
Personal life
She considers herself part of the West African diaspora "removed from her ancestors' traditions". Some of her favorite authors include Margaret Atwood, Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black, Octavia Butler, Suzanne Collins, N.K. Jemisin, and Toni Morrison.Barron lives in Chicago and works at an ad agency.
Career
Barrin wrote her first poem in middle school and wrote her first stories and novels in high school.She has written two-book series: Kingdom of Souls and Maya the Rising Dark.
Kingdom of Souls Series
Kingdom of Souls
Backstory
Barron didn't originally set out to write a trilogy, but found that the story demanded it. She completed the first draft of the story in 2013, but put the project on hold after receiving a number of rejections on it after first sending it out in 2014. She revisited the story in 2017, rewriting it from the ground up. The book was originally told in dual perspective of the main character and love interest.The manuscript, then called The Last Witchdoctor, was showcased during Pitch Wars, a now-defunct online pitch contest for a spring authors, where it became the most-requested manuscript in the history of the six-year contest, having garnered interest by 43 literary agents.