Meet Louisville author Kelly Creagh!

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If you’re a fan of Edgar Allan Poe, or you know a teenager who is, you’re going to want to check out the writings of Louisville author Kelly Creagh.  If you haunt the YA section of the bookstore (and who doesn’t, these post-Twilight days?), perhaps you’ve noticed the striking cover of her book Nevermore, starring a mismatched pair of English lit project partners: the goth guy and the cheerleader.

Please welcome her today to our author spotlight.

Louisville author Kelly Creagh
Louisville author Kelly Creagh at the gravesite of Edgar Allan Poe

Kelly, tell us about your latest project.

 I’ve just finished the sequel to my debut novel, Nevermore. Enshadowed, which is the second book in a planned trilogy, begins shortly after the Halloween events of book one. Varen, a goth boy, fan of Poe and writer, has become trapped within a perilous dreamworld, suffering the same fate that befell Edgar Allan Poe on the days he vanished before his mysterious death in 1849. Isobel, a cheerleader who has fallen for the stoic Varen, has discovered a link between reality and the dreamworld in a man known throughout the world as The Poe Toaster. This man, shrouded in a cloak and masked by a scarf, visit’s Poe’s grave every year on the poet’s birthday, leaving three roses and half a bottle of cognac before vanishing without a trace. In Enshadowed, Isobel devises a plan to travel to Baltimore city. There, she hopes to confront The Poe Toaster. He is her only hope to find a way back to Varen and rescue him from the alternate dimension of his own dark imaginings.

That sounds amazing.  I’ve always wondered about the Poe Toaster, as I’m sure many readers have, through the years.  But more about you, please.  Where would Louisville & Southern Indiana readers know you from?

I am a native of Louisville and also hold a MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Louisville’s own Spalding MFA program! I’m also a local bellydance performer and instructor.

Very cool.  Who are some of your favorite writers from the local area?

My favorite writer’s from the Louisville/Indiana area include Katie McGarry, Bethany Griffin, Julie Kagawa, Sena Jeter Naslund and David Domine—just to name a few.

Those are mostly new names to me. How exciting! Tell me about your favorite bookstores/coffee shops/writing haunts.  What makes them special?

I love to visit the Barnes and Noble at the Summit because I can browse the YA shelf when I need to stand up and take a break from writing. It doesn’t hurt that the staff and booksellers there treat me like family! I also pop into Carmichael’s Bookstore quite often. Lately, I spend a lot of writing time at Heine Brothers and Quill’s Coffee. I find that the further along I get in a project, the more I’m able to work out and about. When I’m doing first drafts, however, I tend to need to hole up a little more.

I can relate to that.  What’s next on the writing slate?

I am now working on the third book in the Nevermore trilogy!

Thanks, Kelly!  I hope you’ll share more about your upcoming book with us, as details become available.

If you know an author (either side of the river is fine, y’all) who deserves to shine in the Local Author Spotlight, please get in touch.  Books about relevant local subject matter are encouraged, as well.  Email Leslea.Tash@gmail.com and please put “LouisvilleKY.com Author Spotlight” in your email subject.  Thanks!

Previous authors featured include:
Coming soon, T. Lee Harris.

Leslea Tash is a local freelance journalist-turned-novelist.  She publishes dark fantasy, including the Indiana-set novel This Brilliant Darkness under the pen name Red Tash.  She always welcomes your feedback on this column either here on the LouisvilleKY.com site, on Facebook, or on her websites or twitter.  Just about anywhere works.  Get in touch!