Keala Kendall

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They Tried to Snuff Out Hawaii's Native Board Game. Meet the Man Keeping It Alive Kōnane was once a national pastime, played by peasants and rulers alike. Now John Kaʻohelauliʻi has made it his mission to bring it back.

A few months ago I pitched @lisatozzi.bsky.social a story about the revival of an ancient Hawaiian board game. She said just go and write it. Before the story was published today she was laid off — so thank you to Lisa for making this happen and everyone involved in the story except Mark Zuckerberg

New York Times bestsellers list for Children’s & Young Adult Series showing A TWISTED TALE at #10

USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Booklist for September 10, 2025, showing HOW FAR I’LL GO #130

I can’t believe I’m a USA Today Bestseller and that Moana’s Twisted Tale has put the series back on the New York Times bestseller list! Thank you to everyone who bought and supported HOW FAR I’LL GO, I’m so grateful. We made it! 🥹💕

Got my copy today, and had to take obligatory new book pic and new book with the other books in the series pic.

Rights Report: Week of July 14, 2025 New deals for Keala Kendall, Priscilla Oliveras, Sarah Guillory, and others.

Announcing new deals for @kealakendall.bsky.social @Sitcomics.bsky.social @janegumball.bsky.social + more buff.ly/4ET3Mxp

Tiffany Liao at Random House Children's has acquired, in a five-house auction, That Which Feeds Us, a Hawaiian gothic young adult novel by debut hapa Native Hawaiian author, Keala Kendall, pitched as Mexican Gothic meets She is a Haunting, following a teen girl whose search for her missing twin leads her to an ultra-exclusive remote island resort where she uncovers the sinister side of paradise with horrors both real and supernatural. Publication is scheduled for summer 2026; Jennifer March Soloway of Andrea Brown Literary Agency negotiated the significant deal for North American rights.

AHHHH! The news is finally here!

I am thrilled to share that @kealakendall.bsky.social 's captivating debut gothic YA, THAT WHICH FEEDS US, has found the perfect home @randomhousekids.bsky.social with the brilliant @tiffliao.bsky.social editing.

Congratulations, Keala!

You can preorder HOW FAR I'LL GO here: books.disney.com/book/how-far...

Thank you!

This image shows the book cover for HOW FAR I'LL GO: A Twisted Tale by Keala Kendall. The cover depicts Moana, wearing a flower crown, turned toward her left, casting her face mysteriously in shadow as a sunrise illuminates blue waves and two faraway mountain ranges in the distance behind her. Below the title are waves and beneath the waves is a village of grass huts (fale) shrouded in darkness and verdant trees. The Heart of Te Fiti glows at the very bottom of the cover. "What if Moana broke the Heart of Te Fiti?" is printed near the top of the cover, beneath Disney and The New York Times Best-Selling Series.

🌀 COVER REVEAL 🌀
ICYMI! I revealed the cover for Moana’s story in the Twisted Tales series, HOW FAR I’LL GO (releasing Sept 2nd). A huge thank you to Disney Books for creating such a great cover and to Kelly Austin, a Kanaka Maoli designer at PRH, for putting together this beautiful graphic for me.

So happy to hear this! I hope we have a cover reveal soon 💕

A screenshot, showing a Publishers Marketplace deal report is attached, saying: "Keala Kendall's NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND, pitched as a twist on Disney's Lilo & Stitch, for the Twisted Tales series, to Heather Knowles at Disney-Hyperion, for publication in fall 2026, by Jennifer March Soloway at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world)."

Coming overseas Fall 2026
Lilo & Stitch was the 1st time I saw a family that looked like mine onscreen 🥰, so I can't believe I now get to write a twist about them and their vile, foul, flawed—and also cute and fluffy 😉—alien Stitch. Mahalo to @marchsoloway.bsky.social, Heather, and our Disney team!

Snapshot of a deal report on a sea background. Text on a white square: Category: Young Adult Fiction SALT WATER BLOOD by Manuia HEINRICH. Imprint: Sarah Barley Books, Allen & Unwin We Need Diverse Books mentee and Pacific Islanders in Publishing cofounder Manuia Heinrich's SALT WATER BLOOD, a speculative thriller set on an alternate Polynesian island following a girl who hears the sea's prophetic thoughts and has to race against time to clear her brother's name before he's blamed for his girlfriend's disappearance-and eventual murder-set against the backdrop of mounting tension around France's nuclear testing on the people of Ma'ohi Nui (French Polynesia), pitched as FIREKEEPER'S DAUGHTER meets MOANA, to Sarah Barley at Sarah Barley Books, in a significant deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2026, by Marin Takikawa at Friedrich Agency (NA). Rights also to Anna McFarlane at Allen & Unwin (ANZ), at auction, by Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein, on behalf of Marin Takikawa.

Ending my vague era with this: ✨I’m getting published!✨

So pumped to announce that my book SALT WATER BLOOD will be published with Simon & Schuster (US) + Allen & Unwin (ANZ) in 2026!

Endless gratitude to my agent @marintakikawa.bsky.social & my editor Sarah Barley 💖

#booksky #writingcommunity

@riggstah.bsky.social - happy to help. The rates I’ve seen +/- based on the length of the visit, the type of visit, whether it’s virtual or in-person, and your level of experience (I don’t want to provide a hard number without more info, but I’d be happy to share more, just dm me wherever)

Hi 👋 I put together a starter pack to spotlight Pacific Islander authors for anyone wanting to discover and uplift PI literature.

Say hi & follow along to celebrate PI! And if you're a Pacific Islander book creator, reach out to be included :)

go.bsky.app/HFSy2tG
#books #authors #pasifika

Already making my packing list 🫡

Ahhhh! Congrats!! 🎉

From Publishers Marketplace’s Daily Rundown: Pacific Islander writers Kealani Netane, Keala Kendall, and Manuia Heinrich have launched Pacific Islanders in Publishing, a website database to promote Pacific Islanders in the publishing industry. They write that, "In addition to featuring Pacific Islander authors, illustrators, and publishing professionals, the website database includes resources for young creatives looking to break into publishing, recent Pacific Islander book releases, book influencers, independent presses, and bookstores."

The team and I are thrilled to finally announce the launch of Pacific Islanders in Publishing, a website database to promote Pacific Islanders in the publishing industry.

pacificislanderbooks.org

Thanks to Scholastic, I’m going home for the first time in 10 years to talk about #BooksforMaui, continuing relief efforts, and Pacific Islander stories. Please join us at the Ala Moana Barnes and Noble on 9/16 at 2:00pm for a special panel discussion & book signing. Thank you!