📚Kyla’s Musings: Book events on the East & West Coast!

And after all these, I'm flying off to [location redacted] for the most exciting book project ever!!

Hi friends,

Happy Halloween if you celebrated!

Fun fact: Halloween appears quite prominently in May the Best Player Win. The book takes place in fall and a key chapter happens at a Halloween party, which features incredible decor and a scarily decadent feast. If you wanna know what a chess prodigy dresses up as on All Hallow’s Eve, check out the book. 😉

And check out this graphic I created for fun on Halloween:

It’s been a busy 1.5 months since May the Best Player Win came out! I’ll do a separate round-up for the media features because this newsletter is all about book events – both past and upcoming ones.

Upcoming events

Nov 10: San Francisco with Ann Liang!

My final Bay Area event will be at On Waverly in SF on November 10! And my event partner will be none other than my friend and bestselling author Ann Liang! I first met Ann as her event partner when she did an author talk in the San Francisco area in July, and I’m so psyched to be teaming up with her again for my book.

Ann & me in July

On Waverly is also an iconic AAPI cultural center in San Francisco Chinatown (where my 2026 YA novel Heirs of Infamy is set!!), so I’m thrilled I get to do a book event here.

If you’re in the SF Bay Area, I’d love to see you at my final book event on the West Coast! Register here so On Waverly can get a sense of book count:

Nov 19: New York!

And then I’m flying off to the East Coast!! New York friends – I’ll be hosting an author talk at the Marshall Chess Club, which some of you might recognize from Ali Hazelwood’s Check & Mate. No chess knowledge required to enjoy this event, so roll through for a good time!

Next…

And right after that, I’m heading off to [location redacted] for a May the Best Player Win project that I am so freaking excited about. I can’t wait to share more!!!

Finished events

September: Linden Tree Books

I was so, so excited to do my book launch at my local indie bookstore, Linden Tree Books, which I’ve been to so many times. And I was honored x2 to be joined by fellow author Nicole Chen as my conversation partner! This was the first and only event for May the Best Player Win where I dressed up in the chess colors of black and white. 😉 And thank you to everyone who gamely (hah) came in these colors too! This is my third novel but my first children’s one, so I was very touched to see familiar readers of my adult novels at this event.

October: Mechanics’ Institute

I also had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the Mechanics’ Institute, aka the country’s oldest chess club, on none other than National Chess Day! Many of history’s most iconic chess players have passed through these hallowed halls, so it was just… such a magical feeling to stand in the same spot that so many chess greats have visited.

This reader has been to events for all three of my books! <3

October: Virginia Children’s Book Festival

Then I flew off to Virginia to attend my first-ever children’s book festival, where all 3 of my sessions were sold out!! This is my first time speaking to an all-kids audience, and gosh, kids have SO MUCH energy. And they ask the quirkiest questions 😂 I’m also now the designated BFF of a 12-year-old girl who came with a psychedelic unicorn backpack… kids these days are too cool.

I had a great time meeting kidlit authors and illustrators who came from all corners of the country. On the second night, we even participated in a Hot Ones challenge: Authors edition. The first three wings were very manageable, the 4th and 5th began to make my mouth tingle, but the last one, oh boy. That slammed into me like a truck. I was downing glass after glass of water and milk. And even though my mouth was on fire, I couldn’t stop shivering - people in the audience thought I was having a panic attack. Then the guy next to me accidentally got some of the spice into his eyes, and he started freaking out and dumped the entire water pitcher over his face. And then I actually started panicking because my mouth still felt like it was in the flames of hell but now I have no water?? It was honestly so much fun and we all absconded to the hotel bar afterwards to commiserate over our burned mouths.

Aftermath of the Hot Ones challenge

All in all, I felt so well taken care of by the organizing team :’) They were a fantastic bunch of people and I can’t wait to be back! Virginia kids are so lucky to have this festival on their doorstep.

And that’s all from me for now! Have a great November, friends.😊And if you’re looking to get a head start on holiday shopping… ;)

All my love,
Kyla