About Author
Deric Augustine is an actor, writer, and producer originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. As a teenager, Deric started his career in the arts as a theater performer. He later graduated from the University of New Orleans, where he studied Theatre and Drama. Upon graduation, he moved to New York City, where he continued his studies at Negro Ensemble Company and William Esper Studio.
BOOK INSIGHT
When fifteen-year-old Donna Marie Guillory quits her summer job, her racist boss suddenly suffers a severe case of toad-in-throat. And that isn’t the only odd thing to happen to Donna since her mother’s stroke. Her anxiety has risen drastically. She’s seen her hands glow red. And now, Donna discovers she is a wizard and has been accepted into the most exclusive all-Black school in America, Nawlins School of Wizardry.
Even as she plays catch-up to the other sophomores, Donna has never belonged anywhere more. She’s making true friends, connecting with the history of her people, and discovering natural abilities she never knew she had—like flying on a broom. But as Auntie Jacquie has taught her, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The brother Donna and her mother thought died in a car crash is alive and well at Nawlins. The “accident” was no accident at all. The truth behind Donna’s father’s death traces back to the early years of Nawlins, a civil war among its founders, and a looming battle between the Elders and the Norms for the fate of the world. As Donna grows into her powers and the truth starts to unravel, only she and her brother can stop the school from becoming a zombie army to a centuries-old grudge. They must choose their allies and whom they trust wisely—their family, their friends, and their own lives depend on it.
NAWLINS combines the diversity of Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone, the magic school concept of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, and the powerful dynasties of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. It will appeal to lovers of coming-of-age stories and fantasy looking for a more inclusive and unique world that stands out from the typical Euro-centric speculative fiction realms.
