Kaela Rivera

Kaela Rivera was raised to believe in will-o’-the-wisps and el chupacabra, but even ghost stories couldn’t stop her from reading in Tennessee’s Appalachian forests. She still believes in the folktales of her Mexican-American and British parents, but now she writes about them from the adventure-filled West. Her award-winning debut novel, Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls, earned multiple starred reviews, and was on several best-of-the-year lists. Her biggest hope is to highlight and explore the beauty of cultural differences—and how sharing those differences can bring us closer.