Wendy Raven McNair, Author
(5 or 6 years old)

I currently reside in Atlanta but I was born and raised in Houston and didn’t step foot outside of Texas until I was an adult. Why? A major part of the reason was due to poverty. Financially, we couldn’t afford extensive travel and priority wise, my mother was too consumed with feeding, clothing, and sheltering her four children.

One way I travelled past the bounds imposed on me by my circumstances was through books. They took me away from my insecure, sometimes frightening but mostly monotonous poverty existence. Stories brought to my awareness a bigger world beyond my limited surroundings and transported me to places I would eventually live or visit and others I can still only dream about. Initially, books represented mental escape but eventually they led to my physical escape.

My environment inspires my writing. GIANT SLAYERS was an inspiration from my past and ASLEEP was inspired by recent events in my life. The popularity of fantasy stories led me to the realization of the scarcity of African American lead characters in these stories. Fantasy stories like Harry Potter and Twilight are read by a diverse audience however I didn’t see this diversity reflected in the stories. I couldn’t list any Young Adult fantasy stories with African American leads and a female one in particular.

ASLEEP is a fantasy love story about an African American teen who discovers a world of super beings. Her introduction into this world is chronicled in a trilogy that begins with book one, ASLEEP.

My first book, GIANT SLAYERS, was an homage to my past. This new trilogy, beginning with ASLEEP, is for the little girl who started off unsure of her place in the world. My hope is that my writing inspires many others to pursue their dreams.

Wendy Raven McNair