Press Kit

Short Bio:

Loretta Chefchaouni is a former early childhood educator from Florida. Her fantastical tales for teens explore grief and fear within the safe place of stories. She is an alum of the Highlights Foundation's Muslim Storyteller Fellowship and a board member of Write to Empower. The Lustrous Dark is her debut novel. 

Long Bio:

Loretta Chefchaouni is a former early childhood educator from Florida who writes for teens. Her fantastical tales turn grief and fear into myth and monsters and explore all the scary parts of being human within the safe space of stories. Loretta is a board member of Write to Empower, an organization that supports writers who write on and through trauma and grief, and an alum of the Highlights Foundation’s Muslim Storyteller Fellowship. The mother of mixed-race young adults, she is committed to seeing more authentic Muslim representation on the shelves. The Lustrous Dark is her debut novel, the first book in a YA fantasy duology and a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Her short story, The Little Sister, is included in the anthology A Thousand Nights.