About


K.A. Wiggins (Kaie) is an award-winning Canadian author of speculative fiction for all ages and fantasy with an edge for young readers. She writes difficult stories about difficult people (usually in entertainingly difficult situations!)

Her work explores social movements, environmental crises, and identity issues through intricate, dreamlike tales of monsters and magic.


Background


Born in Vancouver and raised all across Western Canada, Kaie has been creating urban legends about witches in the back wood and fairies in the snow melt since she was seven years old. She writes prickly misfits challenging the borders of the mundane, inspired by YA stars Brenna Yovanoff, Holly Black, and Laini Taylor, and fantasy legends J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle.

With the encouragement of a series of incredible teachers (shoutouts to Greg Holowka of Angus McKay Elementary in Winnipeg, Lenora Esau of Mt. Slesse Middle, and Diane Turner of Sardis Secondary!), she started writing as a teen and gained recognition for her fiction and nonfiction in a variety of contests, most notably for her fable-like children's story, Hiding a Pearl.

She supplemented a Bachelor of Arts (English Language & Asian Area Studies) at the University of British Columbia with intensive workshops in editing and rewriting fiction and children's publishing with award-winning children's publisher Tradewinds Books. For several years, she worked in corporate marketing and business analysis in Vancouver before launching a second career in writing and editing.


Milestones


Her debut novel, Blind the Eyes, was shortlisted in the 2022 Whistler Independent Book Awards, selected by Barnes & Noble Press as one of their "20 Favorite Indie Books of 2018," recognized by the Page Turner Awards' with their eBook Award 2020 Book Spotlight Prize, and awarded the Reader Views 2021-2022 Literary Awards Bronze Prize in Children's Books Classics (for pre-2021 releases).

Her short side story, also in the Threads of Dreams series, Letter from the End of the World, has been translated into Italian and released by international publisher Virgibooks, Inc. as Lettera dalla fine del mondo. Her standalone and series tie-in short stories and novelettes have also been published in Fantasy Magazine, Enchanted Conversation: A Fairytale Magazine, and Frozen Wavelets by The Earthian Hivemind, and in anthologies by Fiction-Atlas Press, Worldsmyths Publishing, and Hungry Shadow Press.

In 2019, she was honoured to be invited to present workshops for young writers and a masterclass for adults at Mumbai's first Children's Literature Fest sponsored by ORCHIDS The International School.

In 2021, she completed her first series, Threads of Dreams with the publication of Burn the Skies, was elected President of the Children's Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia, and took first place in the Literary Arts category of the Abbotsford Arts Council "Arty Awards."

In 2022, she moderated panels and presented talks and workshops with WORD Vancouver, the BC Library Association's Young Adults and Children's Services Youth Services Intiative, StoryStudio, Weeknight Writers' Storycrafting Sessions and the BC Teacher-Librarians' Association's Fall Conference.


Today


Kaie freelances as a business writer and marketing consultant at The Creative Collective when she’s not working on her next story.

She's a registered author and speaker with the Children's Writers & Illustrators of British Columbia (CWILL BC) Society and has served on the board since 2019, and as President since 2021. She also works with Creative Writing for Children Society teaching writing, storytelling, publishing, and creativity in term-length workshops and seasonal camps for ages 8 and up.

Licensing enquiries, speaking engagements, collaborations, and interview requests can be made directly via [email protected]. Please also feel free to reference the media resource centre for promotional images and content.


Interviews & Features