Authors don’t create fantasy worlds in a vacuum; they draw from centuries of history and tradition to devise new and original premises or whole fantastic realms. In this session, three authors of fantasy novels for young adults will discuss their stories’ origins and inspirations. Tochi Onyebuchi draws on Nigerian folklore and hero legends in his BEA Buzz Book debut, Beasts Made of Night, which Kirkus calls “a paean to an emerging black legend.” In her debut, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, Julie C. Dao reinterprets a character inspired by Snow White’s evil queen, setting her rise in an East Asian landscape. And YA fantasy juggernaut and Printz Award winner Libba Bray looks to the Roaring Twenties in New York City as the backdrop for the thrilling third installment in her Diviners quartet, Before the Devil Breaks You. Their conversation will be moderated by literary agent and debut YA novelist Lana Popović, whose Wicked Like a Wildfire is a magic-laden story set in Montenegro.
