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Dhonielle Clayton

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Dhonielle Clayton is a publishing industry tastemaker with over fifteen years’ experience wearing several hats: prolific author, story proliferator, and literacy non-profit head. She is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen titles, including The Conjureverse series, The Belles series, Shattered Midnight, co-author and creator of Blackout & Whiteout, The Rumor Game, and of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, a Netflix original series. In addition to writing her own novels, she owns and operates two IP story kitchens, Cake Creative and Electric Postcard Entertainment, to develop story ideas for emerging writers to break into the publishing industry. She’s ideated, developed, and sold close to one hundred original novels to big five publishers spanning all genres within children’s and young adult to women’s fiction, adult horror and SFF, contemporary romance, romantasy, mysteries, thrillers, and historical fiction. Some of the titles include the Tristan Strong series, Promise Boys, the Love in Translation series, Fortune’s Kiss, Love Radio, The Lilies, The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter, I’ll Make A Spectacle of You, The Spindle of Fate, the Futureland series, and many more. She recently launched a steadily growing IP short fiction platform called Chain Letter delivering fresh, thrilling, and profoundly unsettling tales. Each story is masterfully crafted by bold and boundary-pushing voices in horror, thriller, dark fantasy, and speculative fiction. Dhonielle Clayton is a former secondary school teacher and librarian, and graduate-level writing professor. She is Board Chair of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books, a non-profit dedicated to diversifying the shelves for readers, and sits on the leadership board for Authors Against Book Bans. She is a writing coach at The Novelry where she helps writers unlock their stories. She runs the writing podcast Deadline City with Zoraida Córdova where she deep dives her messy process and thoughts about the writing life.


  1. What genre(s) do you write?


I write for middle grade, young adult, and adult audiences, working primarily in fantasy, mystery/thriller, and contemporary fiction.


  1. Do you have a newly released novel? What is the title and a link to buy the novel?


    1. Breakout

    2. The Paragon Games



  1. Are there any other social media links, websites, or other places to learn about you that we should add?


    1. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brownbookworm/?hl=en


  1. What space in the market did you hope to fill when you founded Cake Creative and Electric Postcard Entertainment, IP?


When I founded my companies, I wanted to fill multiple gaps I had observed as a librarian. I noticed there wasn’t enough variety for young people to read stories featuring marginalized characters in genre spaces—particularly in fantasy, mystery/thriller, and love stories.

I wanted to help create a wide range of dynamic, plot-driven stories centered on young people who exist in the margins—stories where they are saving the world, falling in love, solving mysteries. Their identities, culture, and communities influence how they move through these fictional worlds, and they are heroes rooted in those spaces. But their stories are not solely about struggle or trauma; they are expansive, adventurous, joyful, and thrilling.

I felt there wasn’t enough variety in the marketplace, and I wanted to help expand what was possible.


  1. How do you hope the non-profit We Need Diverse Books touches and enriches the lives of readers?


I hope the work that We Need Diverse Books does ensures that every child, teen, and adult can walk into a bookstore, classroom library, university library, or public library and see themselves reflected on the pages.

I hope readers realize that books are for them—and that there is truly a book for every reader.


  1. If you are traditionally published, who is your agent?


I am represented by Joanna Volpe and Suzie Townsend (New Leaf Literary).


  1. If you could give any advice to a new writer/author, what would it be?


Stay curious. Put the things you’re most curious about into your work—it will keep your writing fresh and exciting, especially through the many rounds of revision.

You must also read—read everything. Newspapers, articles, magazines, graphic novels, webtoons, screenplays, and, of course, books. Fill your well with the stories of others. Creating stories is a practice, and part of that practice is listening, witnessing, and absorbing the stories around you.


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