Dark, magical stories about strong, magical girls for teens and former teens

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    • “Hear Her Howl”
    • “For Girls Who Walk Through Fire”
    • “A Beginner’s Guide to Resurrecting the Dead”
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    • “Hear Her Howl”
    • “For Girls Who Walk Through Fire”
    • “A Beginner’s Guide to Resurrecting the Dead”
  • Book Clubs
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  • Visits
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Interviews

Eight Book Recommendations to Help You Own Your Wild (The Nerd Daily)
Embracing Her Inner Werewolf (The Santa Barbara Independent)
From Submission to Publication (The Author Burnout Cure podcast interview)
Focus Less on the Destination, and More on the Journey (Writer’s Digest)
You Too? Kim DeRose on Telling and Retelling Stories of Sexual Assault (Lit Hub)
We SHOULD Be Uncomfortable: The importance of addressing sexual assault in YA books, a guest post by Kim DeRose (Teen Librarian Toolbox)
Q&A: Kim DeRose, Author of ‘For Girls Who Walk Through Fire’ (The Nerd Daily)
A Reading List of Badass Covens (CrimeReads)
The Page 69 Test: Hear Her Howl
Authors Interviewing Characters: Women Writers, Women Books
The Page 69 Test: For Girls Who Walk Through Fire
My Book, The Movie: Kim DeRose
Interview w/ The Santa Barbara Independent (For Girls Who Walk Through Fire)
Interview with Authors Answer (For Girls Who Walk Through Fire)
Interview with Pine Reads Review (For Girls Who Walk Through Fire)
Interview with Jean Book Nerd
Interview with Campaign for the American Reader

Come hang with me on Instagram...

kimderosewrites

I write dark, magical books about strong, magical girls 🌈🩷💜💙 she/her | HEAR HER HOWL out now via @unionsqandco | FOR GIRLS WHO WALK THROUGH FIRE

Never let it be said that I don’t put effort into Never let it be said that I don’t put effort into Valentine’s Day. #forgirlswhowalkthroughfire #valentines #bookstagram #booksta #witchbooks
Thank you so much to @kirkus_reviews and @laura.si Thank you so much to @kirkus_reviews and @laura.simeon  for selecting HEAR HER HOWL as one of 6 new YA books to help empower teens in 2026! Lord knows we ALL need a little reminder of our power right about now. My hope is that this book gives readers both a fun escape and a fiery, empowering reminder that they can (and deserve to) escape their cages and own their wild 🐺 #hearherhowl #yabooks #feministbooks #kirkusreviews #bookstagram
With all that’s going on in the world right now, I With all that’s going on in the world right now, I’m so incredibly honored that HEAR HER HOWL was included amongst the amazing stories selected for the 2026 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List. 

“This year, the committee placed a heavy emphasis on solidarity. We looked for stories that remind us of the power found in community and collective support.”

Stories matter. Art matters. Using our voices however we can matters. I do not take being a YA author lightly - it’s a deep privilege to create books for teens (and former teens) that remind us of our individual and collective power, our innate wisdom and wild, and the fact that we don’t have to accept the (white supremacist patriarchal misogynistic heteronormative) narratives that have been handed down to us, that we can create new and better stories. And yes, sometimes that story involves girls becoming wolves. 

Thank you so much @americanlibraryassociation and the Feminist Book Project committee. And congratulations to all of the other honorees! Find and read their books - and visit your local libraries!

For more information and to see the full list visit: https://www.ala.org/srrt/2026-rise-feminist-book-project-list

@unionsqandco @kathygreenlit 

#hearherhowl #librarians #ala #youngadultbooks #feministbooks
Do not give in to despair. Let your rage be the fu Do not give in to despair. Let your rage be the fuel for your action. Image and list courtesy of @leonachaseslions Substack.
Back in 2016 I took an impromptu springtime trip t Back in 2016 I took an impromptu springtime trip to see my grandfather - my mom’s dad - because he had cancer and was entering hospice and I didn’t want to wait until the following Christmas to see him like usual. He died months later and I felt so grateful I’d made that trip happen. Now in 2026 it’s my mom who is in hospice and has cancer, my mom I’m making regular unscheduled trips to visit, and I know I’ll be so grateful I made each and every one happen. 

Back in 2016 I also had one of my closest friends, Lucy, living close by, and we regularly spent weekends together with our kids. Fast forward to 2026 and we are still close friends, but live on different coats and see each other once or twice a year. Which never feels like quite enough! But I’ve learned how to keep my favorite people close, despite distance. 

Back in 2016 I was working on my second novel and had already been dropped by my first agent. I found additional creative outlets by making my son a pirate ship for his birthday, and decorating cookies honoring David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, and Prince, whom had all died that year. Now in 2026, I have a fantastic agent, have published two books I’m so proud of (with amazing editors), and am working on TWO new potential projects (and spending very little time on decorating cookies or crafting as a result, which feels like a fair trade).
Did you know that as an author you’re allowed to s Did you know that as an author you’re allowed to sign Library copies of your book? Well you can and I did! Currently at the NYPL Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library.  #hearherhowl #nypl #librariesofinstagram📚 #staywild #bookstagram
It’s not just any full moon - it’s a wolf moon. AN It’s not just any full moon - it’s a wolf moon. AND a new year. Which means it’s the perfect time to leave your cages behind in 2025 and step into your full authentic wild. What have you been told is too much or not enough about who you are? And how might you use this wolf moon to set an intention that all those stories you’ve told about yourself are BS, that in fact your truest most wild self is absolutely perfect, and NEEDED in this world? Let’s get wild this year, let’s keep howling, and let’s find our packs. #hearherhowl #staywild #keephowling #bookstagram #werewolves #sapphicromance #sapphicYA #authorsofinstagram #staywildandkeephowling #queerya #feministbooks #wolfmoon #fullmoonintentions
Spotted by @arielsilverberg at @vromansbookstore i Spotted by @arielsilverberg at @vromansbookstore in Pasadena! Thanks for supporting Hear Her Howl, Vroman’s! #hearherhowl #staywild #keephowling #bookstagram #werewolves #sapphicromance #sapphicYA #authorsofinstagram #staywildandkeephowling #queerya #feministbooks
The New Year’s Day LA hike tradition continues! Al The New Year’s Day LA hike tradition continues! Also, every year we all come up with our motto for the new year. This year mine is “Enough.” I want to let go of things I’m done with, interrogate where my energy and resources are best spent, and continually ask the question of what is enough. Which we aren’t encouraged to do in our capitalist society. That doesn’t mean I don’t have goals and dreams and ambitions, but if those don’t all live alongside an internal gauge and questioning of what is enough, I fear it’s all too easy to fall into an endless hamster wheel of striving and achieving and attempting to gain more and more forever and ever amen. So what is enough? And where are the area of my life where I feel like, “you know what? Enough!” And how I can truly integrate that idea I am already enough? These are the questions for 2026. #newyearsmotto
The holiday drag brunch tradition with @aespecht a The holiday drag brunch tradition with @aespecht and @hlosman continues!! 🏳️‍🌈
It wouldn’t be the holidays in NYC without the Ber It wouldn’t be the holidays in NYC without the Bergdorf window displays. The best!! #bergdorfwindows #nycholidays
The witchiest of Christmas songs + Rhianna + M83 = The witchiest of Christmas songs + Rhianna + M83 = total holiday delight. #sakslightshow #christmasnyc #nycholidays
I think it’s fair to say that 2025 has been an abs I think it’s fair to say that 2025 has been an absolute mess. There  are a lot of things to be outraged about. And do you know what should still be on your outrage list? THIS FILM.

I’ve compiled my top 10 reasons for loathing this film in my latest newsletter over on my Substack: https://kimderose.substack.com/p/still-loathing

I’ve said it once, but I’ll say it again—and I really just might engrave it on my tombstone, well mausoleum actually because that’s what I’m aiming for—Love, Actually is, unequivocally, the worst film of all time.

“Okay, is it actually the worst film of all time,” I can hear you asking yourself once again? “Surely, there are worse films you could focus your rage upon, Kim.” And PERHAPS. But in a world where this tinsel-covered dumpster fire of a film has infected the hearts and minds of millions of people who find it “sweet” and “romantic” and “flawed but also SO watchable,” and, god forbid, “a classic”; in a world where it has somehow wound up in the holiday canon even though the only place it belongs is an actual cannon, SOMEONE needs to be speaking out about it annually and declaring (in, perhaps, just the slightest unhinged way) how much they hate this film.

And, friends, I’m proud to be that very someone. A warrior for hatred against this film.

“But why is it so bad?” You might be asking yourself. I’m so happy you asked! I’ve written about this at length - I’ve created an entire time-stamped document about everything wrong with it (which I am happy to share! DM me!). In the mean time, check out my latest newsletter: https://kimderose.substack.com/p/still-loathing

#loveactually #loatheactually #loveactuallyistheworstchristmasmovieevermade #loveactuallyistheworst #feminist #feministaccount
Yet another soul who deeply inspires me is @alokvm Yet another soul who deeply inspires me is @alokvmenon , whose art and activism are so incredibly energizing. To consistently show up with joy and empathy and light in a world that displays such ugliness is not only impressive but revolutionary. Because what ALOK understands is that the only way we truly move forward and create the kind of world we dream of is by refusing the toxic systems and behaviors of our oppressors. The fact that ALOK can hear words of hatred and say, “I love you; I wish for you the same self love and acceptance that I feel” (I’m paraphrasing here), that they can refuse to diminish or demean themselves even when the world is unjust and unkind, that they never ever shrink but always take up the space they deserve (and gorgeously I might add), that they not only refuse to be othered but refuse to other those around them - THIS is what badass looks like. This is, dare I say, the kind of emulation of Jesus’s love and acceptance that most right wing religious folks are miles away from achieving. Thank you ALOK for showing us what it is to remain wild and to keep howling. 

#hearherhowl #staywild #keephowling #bookstagram #werewolves #sapphicromance #sapphicYA #authorsofinstagram #staywildandkeephowling #queerya #feministbooks #alok
Spotted at the Manhattan @barnesandnoble at 83rd a Spotted at the Manhattan @barnesandnoble at 83rd and Broadway! Thanks for snapping a pic of our girls in the wild @kathygreenlit! #hearherhowl #staywild #keephowling #bookstagram #werewolves #sapphicromance #sapphicYA #authorsofinstagram #staywildandkeephowling #queerya #feministbooks #lgbtqbooks
For those of you who participated in the Transform For those of you who participated in the Transformation Ritual at my book launch, your intentions have been burned under tonight’s full moon 🌕 #hearherhowl #transformation #ritualmagic
Hear Her Howl came out exactly one month ago, and Hear Her Howl came out exactly one month ago, and to celebrate I’m sharing these awesome photos of the launch party. Such a dream to host it once again at @koskaffe and celebrate with my agent @kathygreenlit my editor @steefchin my sensitivity reader @julianas.jpg and my family and friends. We had a tarot reader, who was fabulous, good food and drink, and photography by the lovely @emilylouickphotography. Oh, and did I mention we also had an appearance by Mother Superior (played by my delightful cousin @aespecht )? Such a fun night. Plus all proceeds from purchased books were donated to @trevorproject 🌈🐺#hearherhowl #staywild #keephowling #bookstagram #werewolves #sapphicromance #sapphicYA #authorsofinstagram #staywildandkeephowling #queerya #feministbooks #lgbtqbooks
Thank you @thenerdaily for the opportunity to let Thank you @thenerdaily for the opportunity to let me share book recommendations that help folks own their wild. Link in bio #hearherhowl #staywild #keephowling #bookstagram #werewolves #sapphicromance #sapphicYA #authorsofinstagram #staywildandkeephowling #queerya #feministbooks
Little known fact that I was a child ice cream sco Little known fact that I was a child ice cream scooper. Listen, child labor wasn’t a concern back then! You could get on your bike and be out until sunset and no one cared! “She’s probably at Mikes?!” Also, they fed me free ice cream so all good. #strangerthings #whywasidressedasachildsailor #scoopsahoy #scoopsicecream #scoops
Sharing another wild soul who inspires me, @tarana Sharing another wild soul who inspires me, @taranajaneen , whose activism has made such a huge difference for so many people. Because Me Too didn’t start with the viral hashtag in 2017 and the take down of so many powerful Hollywood men; Me Too began back in 2006 with Tarana Burke’s grassroots efforts on behalf of girls and women of color who are disproportionately impacted by sexual violence and yet so often underrepresented and overlooked. Her focus on empathy and solidarity, breaking the silence and shifting the narrative, and healing through community continues to empower and support survivors, and her focus on supporting Black survivors and elevating their stories is such vital and important work. Thank you for staying wild and for continuing to howl, Tarana.

#hearherhowl #staywild #keephowling #bookstagram #werewolves #sapphicromance #sapphicYA #authorsofinstagram #staywildandkeephowling #queerya #feministbooks #metoomovement #metoo #taranaburke
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