Kayla Cottingham

"You cannot “opt out” of reality, no matter what today’s majority opinion states. These books belong on shelves and these stories belong in classrooms and curricula." 🔥🔥🔥

A photo of Afa Ah Loo, a smiling handsome Samoan man, caption Afa Ah Loo/Instagram Fashion designer Afa Ah Loo fatally shot by "peacekeeper" at protest in Salt Lake City

The man who was killed by 50501 Utah's "peacekeepers" is Afa Ah Loo, an acclaimed fashion designer. He was the only Sāmoan contestant on Project Runway. A fundraiser for his family is here: www.gofundme.com/f/help-laura...

A collage of books with LGBTQ+ representation including: We Were Restless Things, My Dearest Darkest, Fragile Remedy, The Bruising of Qilwa, The Immeasurable Depth of You, The Buried and the Bound, This Delicious Death, The Summer Queen, What Grows in the Dark, Practical Rules for Cursed Witches, The Glade, Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches, The Vanishing Circus, The Spell for Unraveling, A Wild Radiance

Happy Pride Month! In case you didn’t know, I’m lucky enough to work on some incredible LGBTQ+ stories. So treat yourself this month and pick up a book at your local indie! #lgbtqreads #happypride

(I know it’s not because I’ve spent the last ten years in New England adjusting how I speak so it’s not obvious but good lord)

Every time I watch Secret Lives of Mormon Wives I start spiraling over whether or not my Utah accent is as thick as theirs and if I sound that absurd all the time

If you like ghost stories, slightly insufferable tweens, and creepy clowns, check it out this fall from Abrams!

But all is not well with Miss Starr's Magnificent Circus. How is it that the kids can perform impossible feats without getting hurt? Why is Miss Starr so intent on convincing Riley to join her circus? And why does one of the troupe members look so familiar?

Based in the world of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark? series, THE TALE OF THE VANISHING CIRCUS is a middle grade horror story that follows thirteen-year-old perfectionist Riley as she and her best friend, Genna, find themselves wrapped up in a circus run by a group of ragtag kids and teens

Surprise cover reveal! Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story Are You Afraid of the Dark?: THE TALE OF THE VANISHING CIRCUS!

It doesn’t help the book in question is Nickelodeon IP so they definitely won’t let me do that but godddd I want to

Writing middle grade is very fun but it’s soooo hard not to let these kids curse. What I would give to let my horrible thirteen-year-old mc tell an all-powerful poltergeist to fuck off

I recently bought a massage gun for a shoulder issue I’ve had forever. Cut to last night, my partner mentions having lower back pain. I light up. I have just the solution! I give him a sympathetic look. Very earnestly and and kind-heartedly, I say:

“Aw, I’m sorry. Should I get the gun?”

I love love 💕

Writers will do anything to avoid deadlines. I know this because I spent two hours this morning researching manganese glass and shining a black light on all my doorknobs instead of drafting. They look sick as hell though

It can be read as either a sequel to PRACTICAL RULES or as a standalone! Cover art by the incredibly talented Dani Pendergast.

Set six months after PRACTICAL RULES, EXTRAORDINARY QUESTS follows seventeen-year-old Kieran Pelumbra as he attempts to reverse a curse he accidentally placed on his ex-boyfriend, all while falling for a mysterious new boy with a bloodthirsty secret.

Introducing my fourth (!) YA project, a romantic fantasy adventure set in the world of PRACTICAL RULES FOR CURSED WITCHES: EXTRAORDINARY QUESTS FOR AMATEUR WITCHES, out Sep 23, 2025!

Yall wanna do a cover reveal tomorrow?

Getting to be that time of year where I begin to really relate to Howl because I too would leave home to run around the countryside in a moving castle doing tax evasion if given the opportunity

they just played karma by taylor swift and labour by paris paloma back to back at top volume in this restaurant and I can only assume whoever is in charge of the playlist is going through some shit

if you’re 25 years old with control of the entire treasury system and you don’t delete every student debt file, you are the biggest loser the world has ever seen

This is such a wild response to a photo of a cat who is clearly inside lmaooooo

Just a reminder that you should read books by black authors year around ✨️

Here are some favorites to get you started.

Can cats be gay?? Because every time mine meets one of my queer guy friends he's 1000% more affectionate than when I have my female friends over and it's getting a little 👀

Writing a book based in New Hampshire and making an effort to use all the funky regional terminology for things so all the New Englanders know I’m a #ally of their culture

Authors Against Book Bans Our Mission Statement We are Authors Against Book Bans. We, a coalition of writers, illustrators, anthology editors and contributors, and other book creators, stand united against the deeply unconstit...

Btw Authors Against Book Bans ( @authorsabb.bsky.social ) might seem kid lit driven bc so many challenges are happening in schools, but I think every author should consider joining. Book bans are bad for everyone.

www.authorsagainstbookbans.com

I got to see the corpse flower at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in bloom!!

a simple and graphic three-color drawing of a cat hanging from a tree branch, wailing in fear and misery. The text in the border around it says “Hang in there baby. You can cry. You can cuss. But you gotta hold on.”

HANG IN THERE BABY!!
#art

Lmao my uber driver saw my suitcase and went, “You going to New York?” Like yes but how did you know that?? Is it my undeniable city slicker vibe??

Lucy Dacus @lucydacus if trans people wanna comment surgery gofundmes, I’m gonna give away 10k in $500 increments until it’s gone, & if other people wanna scroll through and make donations, please do the government will never be the source of our validation or protection, we have to do it ourselves

The allyship we need