YA A to Z: Julie Kagawa

Back in May when I wrote my post entitled Dear Media, Let Me Help You Write That Articles About YA Literature, I revealed one of my secrets: I love vampire books. It’s true, I’m a big fan. And I understand their appeal. Not only are they dark and dangerous and often steamy, but think about it from the perspective of a preteen or teenage girl who is thinking about love: Here is a man (or a woman) who will live for all of eternity, who has lived for 100s or 1,000s of years, which means they have met a ton of people, and YOU are the one person in all of that they choose to fall in love with. If that isn’t romantic, I don’t know what it.

But what does all of this have to do with Julie Kagawa being chosen as my letter K author you ask? Julie Kagawa wrote what is arguably my favorite vampire series – The Blood of Eden Chronicles. Here, she takes everything we know about vampire books and adds her own flair. Allison lives on the outskirts of a world rules by vampires, barely surviving because she refuses to pay a blood tax. One night she is attacked by a pack of feral vampires and her only chance of survival is to allow herself to be turned into the very monsters she loathes. Now one of them, she tries to find ways to not feed. And tucked inside all of this is a really good testament against censorship. You see, in order to keep the humans from revolting, the vampires have outlawed reading and are burning all the books. Even the vampires know that the best way to control people is to keep them stupid, which is why we should all support education. There is also a terrifically disturbing scene where we get a glimpse at some equally fascinating and revolting vampire entertainment.

Kagawa is also the author of the very popular Iron Fey series and the new dragon series that begins with Talon.

I could give you a really dry bio of Julie Kagawa here, telling you where she was born (California) and where she lives (Kentucky). I could tell you that she is of Japanese descent. I could tell you that The Immortal Rules has been optioned for a movie, which I want desperately to see made. But instead, I want to tell you a story about meeting her earlier this year at YAKFest. YAKFest is a teen book festival that takes place in Keller, Texas. There were a ton of authors involved, including Julie. During lunch most of the authors went into a private room to eat lunch, which is completely understandable because being “on” all day like that can be overwhelming. Julie, however, came out and talked to the teens, which is where I met her. There sat a group of teen girls and she just came out and started talking to them. They sat for a while, talking about vampire books, yes even Twilight. These girls had just had their day made and it was a pretty awesome thing of Julie to do. Sometimes a simple moment like this, and it maybe lasted 5 or 10 minutes, can be the most life affirming moments in the life of a teen. I was just very touched that she took the time to do this and think very highly of her for doing so. But if you want to know more bio stuff you can visit her website.

About Julie Kagawa’s Book Series . . .

Blood of Eden series: “Red Lung decimated the human population. Vampires rose to rule the crumbling cities. Madmen seek to destroy what little civilization remains. Only Allison Sekemoto, former fringer-turned-vampire stands against them. This is the world of The Blood of Eden. This is Allie’s world…”

The Iron Fey series: “Meghan’s discovery of her Faery heritage opens up a whole new world to her – literally. The Nevernever has a geography all its own and its disparate, potentially deadly realms are yours to discover…”

Talon: “Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they’re positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.”

All book descriptions are from Julie Kagawa’s webpage.

Join the conversation!  Share a post about your favorite author OR tweet us your favorite author with the tag #YAAtoZ. While we’re sharing our favorite authors, we would love to hear about yours. We all might find some new authors we haven’t heard of before. And the more authors we share, the more comprehensive and diverse the list becomes. 

#YAAtoZ Schedule: Week 1 4: A ; 5: B ; 6: C ; 7: D  Week 2 10: E ; 11: F ; 12: G, H, I ; 13: J, K ; 14: L  Week 3 17: M ; 18: N, O ; 19: P, Q ; 20: R, S ; 21: T  Week 4 24: U ; 25: V, W ; 26: X ; 27: Y ; 28: Z

Filed under: Uncategorized, YA A to Z