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ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: SO LET THEM BURN
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PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.kamilah-cole.com
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Jamaica.
EDUCATION:Graduated from New York University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Works in the publishing industry. Has worked variously as a journalist and at a hotel.
WRITINGS
Contributor to Marie Claire and Seventeen.
SIDELIGHTS
Kamilah Cole is a Jamaican-born, American-raised writer of fantasy for young adults. She has drawn inspiration from her writing from the stories she heard while working as a journalist and at a hotel. In an article in Writer’s Digest, Cole shared her thoughts on perseverance with other writers, suggesting that they “never give up. Take breaks. Protect your mental health. Step back when you need to. But don’t give up. The world needs your voice, and someone somewhere needs your story. As an immigrant, there are so many books from my childhood that were there for me—that saw me—when I felt out of place. It didn’t matter if they were ‘good’ or even if they hold up today. For the length of time I spent between those pages, I was not alone.” Cole also admitted in the article that “every reader deserves that experience, and you never know what book will give it to them. So, if you can’t keep writing for yourself, keep writing for that future reader.”
Cole published the young adult fantasy novel So Let Them Burn in 2024. In the story, seventeen-year-old Faron Vincent serves as the Childe Empyrean after being granted the magical powers of San Irie island’s gods five years earlier. Although she can be reckless, she is respected by the people for being chosen by the gods. Faron is also happy that their war against the colonizing Langlish is over, allowing her to go back to being a teen. Her responsibilities are not over, though, as she attempts to put on a diplomatic face for her enemies at a peace summit. Faron’s eighteen-year-old sister, Elara, discovers that she is a dragon rider after bonding with a forest green, golden-eyed dragon named Zephyra that once fought against San Irie. Without notice, all dragons in the region turn feral. Faron is instructed to kill them all, which will also kill their bonded riders as well. Faron is determined to find a way to save her sister, even if it means risking the island’s fate.
Booklist contributor Allie Stevens observed that “morally ambiguous and absolutely magical Black girls take the fate of their world into their own hands in this action-packed, cleverly crafted fantasy.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Cole and So Let Them Burn “an engaging new voice and a Caribbean-inspired fantasy to savor.” In a review in Horn Book, Amanda R. Toledo commented that “the romances the characters explore–sapphic and demisexual–hold charm and tension, helping to propel this magic-infused, Jamaican-inspired tale.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 2023, Allie Stevens, review of So Let Them Burn, p. 83.
Horn Book, March 1, 2024, Amanda R. Toledo, review of So Let Them Burn, p. 85.
Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2023, review of So Let Them Burn.
ONLINE
Kamilah Cole website, https://www.kamilah-cole.com (September 15, 2024).
Writer’s Digest, https://www.writersdigest.com/ (January 16, 2024), Robert Lee Brewer, “Kamilah Cole: Someone Somewhere Needs Your Story.”
Kamilah Cole is an Indie bestselling Jamaican-born, American-raised author. By day she works in publishing and by night she frantically types words she hopes people want to read. In the past, she’s also worked as a journalist and at a hotel, two jobs that give you amazing stories to tell at parties. You know, if she went to parties.
A graduate of New York University, Kamilah is currently based in the Tri-State Area, where she’s usually playing Kingdom Hearts for the hundredth time, quoting early Spongebob Squarepants episodes, or crying her way through Zuko’s redemption arc in Avatar: The Last Airbender. You can connect with her on social media at @wordsiren or on her website kamilah-cole.com.
She is represented by Emily Forney at BookEnds Literary Agency.
Kamilah Cole: Someone Somewhere Needs Your Story
Author Kamilah Cole discusses the inspiration behind her debut young adult fantasy novel, So Let Them Burn.
Robert Lee BrewerJan 16, 2024
Kamilah Cole was a writer and entertainment editor at Bustle for four years, and her nonfiction work has also appeared in Marie Claire and Seventeen. A graduate of New York University, Kamilah lives on the East Coast, where she’s usually playing Kingdom Hearts for the 100th time, quoting early “SpongeBob SquarePants” episodes, or crying her way through Zuko’s redemption arc in “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Learn more at kamilah-cole.com, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Kamilah Cole: Someone Somewhere Needs Your Story
Kamilah Cole
Photo by Lauren Banner
In this post, Kamilah discusses the inspiration behind her debut young adult fantasy novel, So Let Them Burn, her advice for other writers, and more!
Name: Kamilah Cole
Literary agent: Emily Forney, BooksEnds Literary Agency
Book title: So Let Them Burn
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Release date: January 16, 2024
Genre/category: Young Adult Fantasy
Elevator pitch: A Jamaican-inspired fantasy that follows a gods-blessed heroine who’s forced to choose between saving her sister or protecting her homeland.
Kamilah Cole: Someone Somewhere Needs Your Story
Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]
What prompted you to write this book?
So Let Them Burn is a story about two sisters—one who was chosen by her gods to channel their magic to fight their island’s dragon-riding colonizers, and one who is chosen as the Rider of an enemy dragon five years after the war is over. It’s inspired by my Jamaican heritage, my love for my own sister, and my experience as a gifted kid who peaked in high school.
There were a lot of small prompts that ultimately pushed me to tackle this story, but the two hugest inspirations were Black Panther and Zendaya’s 2018 Met Gala outfit. Black Panther was a triumph of Blackness that made me realize how far I felt from my own culture, how much I had given up to assimilate into American culture, and how I didn’t need to do that to fit in or succeed. Or rather, it helped me make the late-stage realization that I shouldn’t need to assimilate to fit in or succeed.
Then I saw Zendaya’s Joan of Arc-inspired Met Gala outfit. I’ve always been fascinated by the short life of Joan of Arc, but despite how much I love reading diverse retellings that was the first time I thought, “Joan of Arc can be Black?” From there, the idea of a Joan of Arc figure freeing an island based on Jamaica from world powers based on Europe began to take shape. It felt like the perfect way to reaffirm my love for the land I was born in, through the lens of the kinds of fantasy books I love and have always loved.
But also with dragons. Because I love dragons.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
My book will come out in 2024, but I had the first inklings of the idea for So Let Them Burn in 2018. It took me until 2020 to be ready to query, and in that time I rewrote the book about 40 times. At first, my Jamaican Joan of Arc took place mostly in Langley, the colonizing country. Then it took place mostly in San Irie but ended with her being kidnapped by the Langlish. There was a point where she had to hire a mercenary group to be her bodyguards for … some reason. The first ideas I had were all over the place, basically!
The real shift happened when I removed some of the POVs and aged down the older sister character to a teen. Initially, Faron had a peer her own age, and her parents had only allowed her to go to war because her responsible 20-something sister had gone to protect her. Eventually, I realized that absolutely NO parent would let their kids just go to war no matter what! Thus, Elara was aged down to 18, and in the way of teens, she and Faron snuck out—which complicates their relationship with their parents in the present.
This story was meant to be told through their voices, and they were always meant to be the heart of this story. It just took me a long time to see that. Thankfully, through gaining an agent and an editor, that’s the one thing that everyone praised and didn’t ask for changes on: the sisters and their bond.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
This might sound silly but bear with me. The most surprising thing about the publishing process has been how well my team understands my book. When you’re just writing the draft, the story is entirely yours. When you pursue traditional publishing, the story is now a group effort. I’ve heard both positive and negative stories about the working relationships between authors and their editors, and I’ve been so lucky that my experience has been entirely positive.
There was something surreal about getting an edit letter back which showed such a deep level of understanding and respect for people I made up in my head. My editors, Alex Hightower and Crystal Castro, prove in every second that we spend working together that they took on my book because they see what I’m trying to do, and they want to support me in getting that across in the most effective way possible.
In turn, I learned to trust in them to steer me right when I start to drift from what I’m trying to accomplish. Trusting someone else with your baby, this book you’ve spent so much time and effort on, can feel like an impossible task, but at least in my case, it’s been very worth it.
Kamilah Cole: Someone Somewhere Needs Your Story
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
So Let Them Burn isn’t the first book that I finished; it’s actually the fifth. But it is the first book that I revised for querying—or revised at all. I used to write to finish the book and then move on to the next project to prove I could actually finish again. I had no plan to share any of those books with anyone; I was just enamored with this new ability to finish what I start. But with So Let Them Burn, I really felt like this would represent me so well if it were to be my debut novel.
As it turns out, revising is harder than finishing the book. Many writers prefer revision to drafting, but I’m the opposite. When I’m drafting, I can put anything down on the page and move on. Revising forces me to confront the fact that those first draft sentences are weak, that those plot holes loom large, and that I can’t just have random things happen to reach the end. So, yeah, the biggest surprise was just how hard revision is when, previously, just typing THE END was the hardest part for me.
Luckily, I’m not the first author in the world to revise. I found Susan Dennard’s Guide to Revisions incredibly helpful, as well as Chelsea Abdullah’s essay on Reverse Outlining. I’m also a lover of craft books, so I read Sin and Syntax and Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. I also love Craft in the Real World and The Dark Fantastic, though I read those long after.
But if there’s one thing I love about being traditionally published, it’s having an editor to tell me what revisions they think my book needs so I no longer have to figure that out on my own!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
First and foremost, So Let Them Burn is anti-colonialist literature. It tackles a lot of themes in that arena: war, patriotism, nationalism, imperialism, and the violence of cultural erasure. There are sexy ancient gods and sarcastic dragons, a sapphic main character and a demisexual main character, two romances, and lots of laughs along the way, of course. It wouldn’t be my book if it wasn’t fun. But I want readers to pick this up and feel hope. I want them to lead with love, and to love deeply and fiercely. I want them to be unafraid to stand up and speak out. I want them to feel seen and understood. And I want them to go out and be the hero of their own stories.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
This is very cliché, but my advice is to just never give up. Take breaks. Protect your mental health. Step back when you need to. But don’t give up. The world needs your voice, and someone somewhere needs your story. As an immigrant, there are so many books from my childhood that were there for me—that saw me—when I felt out of place. It didn’t matter if they were “good” or even if they hold up today. For the length of time I spent between those pages, I was not alone.
Every reader deserves that experience, and you never know what book will give it to them. So, if you can’t keep writing for yourself, keep writing for that future reader. Keep writing.
So Let Them Burn [Divine Traitors]
by Kamilah Cole
High School Little, Brown 400 pp.
1/24 9780316534635 $19.99
e-book ed. 9780316534840 $12.99
Seventeen-year-old Faron is the Childe Empyrean, blessed five years ago to wield the power of her island's gods. Now that San Irie's war against the colonizing Langlish and their dragons is won, Faron uses that ability to show off with classmates. Faron's sister, Elara, has no such blessings beyond the regular magic of islanders to summon ancestor spirits, but she wants to build a name for herself beyond her family's status, and to keep Faron, their country, and the island's young queen safe. When Elara unexpectedly discovers she's a "dragon Rider," the sisters and their friends are pulled deeper into machinations between the political powers and the gods. Cole's writing is vivid and rich; the depth and care placed in the world- and character-building make the novel a delight to read. The story, set years after war, feels rich and lived in. The characters have foibles, backstories, traumas, and nuances that make them as sympathetic as they can be frustrating, and their believable flaws directly fuel the narrative elements that lead toward peril. The romances the characters explore--sapphic and demisexual--hold charm and tension, helping to propel this magic-infused, Jamaican-inspired tale, and a cliffhanger ending with gripping plotlines yet unresolved will leave readers eager for the projected sequel.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
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Source Citation
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Toledo, Amanda R. "So Let Them Burn [Divine Traitors]." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 100, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2024, p. 85. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A789719396/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4e6f432f. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
Cole, Kamilah SO LET THEM BURN Little, Brown (Teen None) $19.99 1, 16 ISBN: 9780316534635
Two sisters face near-impossible odds while trying to protect each other and their country.
Five years ago, 17-year-old Faron Vincent, from the island of San Irie, became the Childe Empyrean--the one chosen by the gods to liberate her country from the colonizing Langlish. Faron has access to the gods' infinite power and is treated with reverence by her people, despite her often reckless and rebellious behavior. When San Irie hosts an international peace summit, Faron must be diplomatic toward predatory dignitaries from enemy nations. Unexpectedly, Elara, her mature, responsible 18-year-old sister, forms a bond with Zephyra, a forest green, golden-eyed dragon ridden to San Irie by a girl from the Langley Empire. When a phenomenon called the Fury turns dragons feral and deadly, the gods tell Faron that the only hope is destroying them--but doing so would also kill those bonded to them, Elara included. Faron is determined to save her sister, even if it risks betraying her country. The girls become entangled in conflicts reaching back before their time, and they're desperate to emerge alive and in a free nation. This debut alternates between the sisters' third-person perspectives and is infused with Jamaican cultural and historical influences. Cole's astute prose brings the world and its characters, who are predominantly Black, to life in refreshing and complex ways as it highlights themes of family, patriotism, war, identity, and sacrifice.
An engaging new voice and a Caribbean-inspired fantasy to savor. (map) (Fantasy. 12-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Cole, Kamilah: SO LET THEM BURN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2023, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A772515495/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f7fecd00. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
So Let Them Burn. By Kamilah Cole. Jan. 2024. 400p. Little, Brown, $19.99 (9780316534635). Gr. 9-12.
Sisters Faron, 17, and Elara, 18, are no strangers to pressure. Years ago, Faron was chosen by the gods as a conduit for their power, helping to end a war against the dragon-riding colonizers of the Langley Empire. Elara, meanwhile, was sent to the front lines, able to channel the strength and spirits of her ancestors. Since the sisters helped Queen Aveline defeat the Langlish, however, the fame and scrutiny that accompany Faron's gifts have begun to feel like a burden. Elara, too, longs to escape her assigned roles, spending her time sparring with her ex-girlfriend and dreaming of piloting war machines called drakes. When Queen Aveline unexpectedly calls the sisters to her side at an ill-advised peace summit, Elara bonds with a Langlish dragon. To survive, Elara must return to the Langley Empire, and Faron becomes forced to choose between her country and her sister in a conflict with rising stakes. An exquisite map promises a sweeping adventure, and Cole's Jamaican-inspired world building is just detailed enough to feel thoroughly lived in. With the inciting conflict in the past, there's room for uniquely nuanced and complex relationships; romantic tensions sparkle, and, though the cast is large, the sisters' dual points of view are both strong and smoothly paced. Morally ambiguous and absolutely magical Black girls take the fate of their world into their own hands in this action-packed, cleverly crafted fantasy that will leave readers clamoring to know what happens next.--Allie Stevens
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Stevens, Allie. "So Let Them Burn." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 5-6, 1 Nov. 2023, pp. 83+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A774988528/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0f890fcf. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.