Kamilah Cole is a national bestselling, Dragon Award-nominated Jamaican-American author. She worked as a writer and entertainment editor at Bustle for four years, and her nonfiction has appeared in Marie Claire and Seventeen. A graduate of New York University, Kamilah lives in the Pacific Northwest, 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.

I had the opportunity to interview Kamilah, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you so much for having me! My name is Kamilah Cole, and I’m a Young Adult and Adult author. My debut, So Let Them Burn, the first book in the Divine Traitors duology, came out in January 2024. The sequel, This Ends in Embers, comes out in February 2025. I have a cat named Sora, who I adore; I’m a proud Aries; and I love the color pink.

What can you tell us about your recent project, the Divine Traitors series? 

I pitch the Divine Traitors as “Jamaican Joan of Arc with dragons”. My main character, Faron, was blessed with the power to channel the magic of the gods, which she used as a child to free her island from a dragon-riding empire. Now that the war has been won and she still has this cosmic power, she has to figure out what to do with it—especially when her beloved older sister is tapped as a dragon rider and all the power in the world isn’t enough to break that bond. It’s a sisterhood story set in a queernormative world… with dragons!

In previous interviews, you’ve mentioned that So Let Them Burn was partially inspired by Zendaya’s Joan of Arc costume at the Met Gala. Could you expand on what seeing this image meant to you and well as the relevance of Joan of Arc to your inspiration process?

The Met Gala inspires a wave of great art every year, but there was a specific image by BossLogic that really inspired me. (https://x.com/Bosslogic/status/993826316586635264) In it, Zendaya is in the Joan of Arc costume, and she’s clutching two swords and standing on the head of a dragon. I couldn’t stop thinking about it! I’ve always been fascinated by the history of Joan of Arc, but seeing Zendaya in that outfit was the first time that I thought about how well her story—of a small town girl, chosen by the gods, who went off to war to help liberate France—worked with my own background as a girl from an island that was colonized by the British up until the 1960s. 

From what I can tell, sisterhood and queerness are big elements of your work. How did you set about representing both features in your series?

I myself am an older sister. When I first started writing So Let Them Burn, it stuck pretty close to Joan of Arc’s story, but when I made Elara a character with her own POV, thus making the book about the sisters, that’s when it became its own, original story. On top of that, I am the kind of writer who prefers to write queernormative fantasies, where character struggles won’t be related to the fact that they’re not heterosexual or cisgender, so that will always be baked into everything I write. Elara came onto the page as a lesbian. I figured out that Faron was demisexual as I wrote her romance and realized that it was utterly lacking in sexual attraction until she’d bonded more with her love interest. I learned a lot about myself while writing this series, and I hope it makes others seem seen.

As a writer, what drew you to the art of storytelling, especially young adult fiction and fantasy?

Fantasy has always been my go-to genre, because I had a rough time growing up between being an immigrant to a foreign country and being bullied for my differences or interests. Fantasy provided an escapism where magic was around every corner and good could defeat evil. On top of that, since I was made fun of for my accent when I spoke, writing specifically was a good outlet for me because I didn’t have to pronounce the words I put on the page. I could control the story, the narrative. I could do anything I want on a blank page, and no one could tell me it was wrong. These days, writing is a way for me to write the kinds of stories I want to make sure teens of today have, because I lacked them when I was their age.

Also, why dragons?

I’ve always loved dragons! From Dragon Tales to Merlin, Eragon to How to Train Your Dragon, Talon by Julie Kagawa and Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Dani Bennett, I just always thought of dragons as thequintessential fantasy creature. But I never really saw Black girls writing them, so it was my goal to write such a story one day.

How would you describe your writing process?

Utter chaos. I’m a mood writer these days, so I just kind of open a document, write as much as I can, and then go watch TV for eight hours. I genuinely have no idea how I get anything done on time.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating/challenging?

I love that I can create a whole world out of words. Characters that live and breathe as if they are real, magic that feels like it’s right around the corner, worlds that carry us away from this one—all at the flick of a pen or the touch of a keyboard. It’s like childhood games of playing pretend, but on a larger scale. The most challenging part is how hard it is for the words I put down to match the image I have in my head! Sometimes, it feels like I’m not a good enough writer to capture what I’m visualizing, because the words just aren’t right, you know?

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want others to know about you?

Despite my book being a dragon fantasy, my favorite mythical creature is actually the mermaid (so you can imagine excited I was when Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel in the live-action The Little Mermaid). My favorite color is pink. I have a cat named Sora, after the main character of my favorite video game, Kingdom Hearts.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

The question is “can we make fanart or write fanfic for your works” and the answer is yes, please, goodness, please do this, it makes my day.

What advice might you have to give for aspiring writers?

Don’t be your first “no.” I firmly believe there is space on shelves for everyone’s stories—problematic ones excluded—and the only way it won’t happen is if you’re the first one to give up. Publishing is always changing, always reconsidering what it wants, always saying yes to things it once said no to, so while taking breaks for mental health is always encouraged, if this is your dream, it will only happen if you never truly stop trying.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

After the Divine Traitors duology concludes, I’ll be making my adult debut with my dark academia fantasy, An Arcane Inheritance. And my next YA duology—a romantasy in a Spanish Renaissance-inspired world—launches in 2026 with Wicked Endeavors. 

Finally, what books/authors (LGBTQ+ or otherwise) would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT? 

Read anything by: Chelsea Abdullah, Ebony LaDelle, Kelly Andrew, Tashie Bhuiyan, Christina Li, Terry J. Benton-Walker, Zoe Hana Mikuta, Laura R. Samotin, Skyla Arndt, Rochelle Hassan, Sophie Kim, Page Powars, Jenny Hollander, Nia Davenport, MK Lobb, Sydney Langford, EM Anderson, and Mel Karibian. 

I also recommend upcoming debuts The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez, This Raging Sea by De Elizabeth, Hollow by Taylor Grothe, In the Country I Love by Alaa Al-Barkawi, Smash or Pass by Birdie Schae, and Medievally Blonde by Cait Jacobs. 

Finally, if I may shout out some rising stars: Betty Hawk, Ysabelle Suarez, Grace Varley, and Nadia Noor are absolutely incredible writers. You’re going to want to say you knew them before they were famous. 