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Venessa Vida Kelley is a Nuyorican writer, illustrator and sequential artist. Their work focuses on magical realism, fantasy, and romance in a culturally diverse world, and has been featured in Discovery Girls Magazine, Buzzfeed, and in board games and activism campaigns for Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, creator of the La Borinquena comic series. They hold a BA and MA in English Literature with concentrations in film from the University of Delaware and George Washington University. They live in Washington, DC with their spouse and two sons, and can be found online at VenessaKelley.com.
Praise for When the Tides Held the Moon “I can't believe Venessa Kelley exists. Here is an artist who is not only extraordinarily talented, but she can write too? We are so lucky to be around at the same time as her. WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON may be a debut, but it reads like someone at the top of their game. Lush prose, diverse characters, and a love story to swoon over? This book has got it all. Venessa Kelley is a dynamic writer who understands that little details matter just as much as the narrative itself. A feast for the senses!” —TJ Klune, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Cerulean Sea “Venessa Vida Kelley's debut novel proves she can achieve the same effortless luminosity with words as with her artwork, creating a page-turning story which brings 1911 New York and a vivid found family of characters equally to life. This is an achingly fantastical and painfully romantic book; it plunged me deep and took my breath away!” —Freya Marske, internationally bestselling author and New York Times Editors' Choice Pick for A Marvelous Light and A Restless Truth “Steeped in the rasp of metalworks and the salt of the ocean, this novel is a delight for the senses and a balm for the heart. WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON lives evocatively in the intersection of romance and justice, of land and sea.” —Two-time National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author Eliot Schrefer “Lush and romantic, WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON is a love story unlike anything you’ve read before.” —Camryn Garrett, NAACP Image Award-nominated author “WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON is at once a quiet love story between Benny, an orphaned blacksmith from Puerto Rico and Rio, the stubborn but soft-hearted merman he unknowingly helped capture, as well as an epic historical fantasy with a cast of diverse and loveable misfits. On Benny’s bumpy path to finding himself and his place in 1920’s New York City he stumbles upon found family and true love—which grounds him in a way he never could have expected. With luscious illustrations by Vida Kelley that accompany this truly heartfelt and original story, readers will find themselves easily immersed in Benny and Rio’s journey.” —Jackie Khalilieh, author of Something More
