Keala Kendall
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kealakendall.bsky.social
Keala Kendall
@kealakendall.bsky.social
1.3K followers 180 following 12 posts
ʻŌiwi NYT & USA TODAY Bestselling Author. 📚: HOW FAR I'LL GO, NOBODY GETS LEFT BEHIND (AUS: 03/01), + THAT WHICH FEEDS US (05/26). Cofounder of Pacific Islanders in Publishing. 日本語. Kay-ah-luh.
https://bio.site/kealakendall
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kealakendall.bsky.social
Plan your getaway. The classic beach read is getting a Hawaiian gothic twist.

Iʻm excited to share the cover for THAT WHICH FEEDS US, my YA supernatural thriller, out May 26. A huge thank you to Frances Wren, Liz Dresner, Kelly Austin, + @ajwhiteauthor.bsky.social for blurbing. Pre-order 🔗 in bio!
A book cover reveal post, reading: "Even paradise has its ghosts" on a mock postcard with a persimmon stamp in the corner. The postcard has been torn in half, and in the middle of the split paper is the book THAT WHICH FEEDS US by Keala Kendall. The cover shows a mixed Hawaiian girl sitting on the floor of a room with peeling green wallpaper. Branches of persimmon fruit, both rotten and ripe, surround her while some branches pierce her skin. A blurb from bestselling author, Andrew Joseph White, reads: "Astounding" in the top corner of the book. At the bottom of the graphic, on the torn half of the postcard, reads: Book your trip May 26 Thereʻs a text box on a white postcard backdrop image that has postage fixed to the top of the frame like a letterhead. The text reads: “This astounding book is both a finger pointed directly at the rotting heart of colonial greed and a truly heart-pounding mystery.” — Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of Compound Fracture For the world’s wealthiest, Kōpaʻa Island Resort is more than a destination. It’s the ultimate escape. With no cell service or Wi-Fi, the Hawaiian island is a coveted wellness retreat renowned for its persimmon orchard and promises of rejuvenation. But their dream vacation is Lehua’s nightmare. When her twin sister, Ohia, goes missing, Lehua follows her trail to Kōpaʻa to find her. Instead, Lehua is cut off from civilization—and help—after the island’s boat leaves without her, stranding her with the resort’s lavish guests and enigmatic staff. As Lehua investigates Ohia’s disappearance, she discovers her missing sister isn’t the island’s only mystery. Kōpaʻa’s rich exterior and sweet persimmons hide its dark plantation past. And Lehua can’t ignore the dreams haunting her each night—nor the warning telling her to leave the island at once. To uncover what happened to Ohia, Lehua will have to unearth the island’s bloody history and face the horrors that lurk within its sugarcane fields—or risk being consumed by them.
October 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
kealakendall.bsky.social
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! 🥹💕
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
September 11, 2025 at 1:11 AM
kealakendall.bsky.social
🌀 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.
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.
February 26, 2025 at 6:43 PM
kealakendall.bsky.social
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!
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)."
December 12, 2024 at 9:37 PM
kealakendall.bsky.social
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
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."
November 19, 2024 at 9:22 PM
kealakendall.bsky.social
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!
November 19, 2024 at 9:22 PM