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We are excited to host a book launch of the debut novel by Kayla Hardy, The Quarter Queen, on the day of its release! Dr. Hardy will be in conversation with writer and Streetlight Guild founder Scott Woods about her work and its many intersections: historical fantasy, magic, and nineteenth-century Black folklore. Expect a lively trip through a mystical New Orleans, and one family’s fight over their destiny. Copies of the book will be on sale at the event, courtesy of Prologue Bookshop.
Tuesday March 31
7:00 Admission is free
Streetlight Guild
1367 E. Main St., Columbus OH 43205
In THE QUARTER QUEEN (Ballantine, on sale 3/31/26), debut author Kayla Hardy—an accomplished
scholar of Black folklore, mythology, and Voodoo—brings readers a transportive and thrilling fantasy retelling based on the historical figure of Marie Laveau, the infamously fierce and feared Voodoo Queen whose legacy still shapes New Orleans to this day.
Inspired by her own Louisiana Creole ancestry, Hardy dives into the mystique and magic of not only Laveau, but her daughter, Marie “Ree” Laveau the Second—two generations of powerful witches living in a magically and racially divided 19th century New Orleans. The result is a novel ideal for fans of historical magical realism like Emilia Hart’s Weyward, mythical retellings like Madeline Miller’s Circe, and politically charged fantasy such as The Witcher.
Ree is everything her cutthroat and principled mother is not: spoiled and entitled, with a wickedly rebellious streak. But when Ree finds Marie comatose in the bayou, she must uncover the secrets of her mother’s life in search of a cure. With so many enemies circling—including a puritanical-minded Brotherhood of alchemists, the slave-holding mayor of the city, and Ree’s childhood best friend turned witch hunter—Ree must confront the past and face her mother’s demons that have now become her own…or die trying.
Told in alternating timelines between Ree in the present and Marie’s rise to power twenty-five years earlier, THE QUARTER QUEEN is an intimate yet epic portrait of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand one another, and a captivating exploration of racism, family, and womanhood.
About the author
Kayla Hardy is a mythology expert and multi-hyphenate author and screenwriter of Louisiana Creole descent. She earned her PhD in creative writing and African American literature from SUNY Binghamton University. Dr. Hardy is an adjunct professor at SUNY Binghamton University and is an accomplished scholar of Black folklore, mythology, and Voodoo. THE QUARTER QUEEN is her first novel.
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Event Venue
1367 East Main Street, Columbus, OH, United States, Ohio 43205
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
