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Kailee Pedersen

@kaileepedersen.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.7K following 423 posts

THE MINIMALIST (St. Martin's '26) PASTORALE (Burnside Review '25) SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS (St. Martin’s + Titan '24) writer/opera singer/swe | 🏳️‍🌈🇨🇳 adoptee | she/her rep: Paul Lucas @ Regal Hoffmann kaileepedersen.com

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I’m terribly late on this, but Anne Carson was such an influence on me as a baby Classics major and it’s so nice to see her win the Nobel! 🥰 I recommend The Autobiography of Red for anyone looking into her work
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
🥚 for the adoptee feed, if you'd like to hear me discuss my adoptee identity-themed horror novel & perform some opera😊
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Recording here (opera performance begins at 1:05:00): tr.ee/VpLpXB Full list: tr.ee/vDJqKv Photo Credit for #1 and #2: @saratogaishere.bsky.social
tr.ee
Night at the Haunted Opera: Best New Horror 2026 Launch Event
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
We had a great discussion about horror & then I sang Puccini 😊🎶 Thanks to everyone who came out and the library staff who made this event possible. Special thanks to my wonderful pianist, Brian Wong 🎹
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Had such a fabulous night at the New York Public Library with @raforall.bsky.social, @saratogaishere.bsky.social & @deenahelm.bsky.social celebrating the 2026 Best New Horror for Adults list! Honored to see THE MINIMALIST among so many fantastic books.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Come see me and Brian Wong 🎹 perform Haunted Opera at the NYPL 53rd Street Branch on Oct 6th at 6:30pm (in person & livestreamed)! Our spooky program features music on mortality, dread, obsession, and - my personal fave - making out with a severed head. 🎶👻🩸 Free tickets: tr.ee/n0vrOv
Kailee Pedersen & Brian Wong present Haunted Opera. October 6, 2026 at 6:30pm at the NYPL - 53rd Street Library. Digital Program.Program. Franz Schubert (1797-1828). Der Tod und das Mädchen (Death and the Maiden). A young woman begs Death to not take her from the world before her time. Death responds that she will sleep in his arms. Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel). Gretchen anxiously contemplates her love for Faust, who unbeknownst to her has sold his soul to the devil and doomed them both. Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924). "Tu? Tu? Piccolo iddio!" (You, you, little angel!) from MADAMA BUTTERFLY. The geisha Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly) bids farewell to her son for the final time before dying by suicide. Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949). "Ah, ich habe deinen Mund geküsst, Jochanaan..." (Ah, I have kissed your mouth, Jochanaan...) from SALOME. Having convinced Herod to execute and decapitate John the Baptist (Jochanaan), Salome ecstatically kisses the severed head, reveling in the bloodshed. Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901). "Addio del passato" (Farewell, happy dreams of the past) from LA TRAVIATA. Dying of tuberculosis, the courtesan Violetta laments her lost love Alfredo and asks God to pardon her as a “fallen woman.”Kailee Pedersen writes haunted, unsettling speculative fiction. She graduated with a BA in classics from Columbia University, specializing in ancient Greek. Kailee was adopted from Nanning, China and grew up in Nebraska, where her family owns a farm. She is the author of the queer poetry chapbook Pastorale and the novel Sacrificial Animals, which was named one of The New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2024. When not scribbling down her next book, you can catch her studying opera performance at the Mozarteum University, playing video games, or working as a software engineer in New York City. The Minimalist is her second novel. Brian Wong is a collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and church musician in New York City. He currently serves as a staff pianist at The Juilliard School and as Director of Music Ministry at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brooklyn Heights. Brian has appeared at many prominent New York venues, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Metropolitan Opera Club. He received a Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from The Juilliard School and a Master of Music in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
One night only, live from New York! 😊 Come join me, @deenahelm.bsky.social, @saratogaschaefer.bsky.social, and @raforall.bsky.social on 10/6 for an evening of horror & haunted opera (feat. Brian Wong on piano). 🎶👻 In person and livestreamed. Digital program to come. Get free tickets: tr.ee/n0vrOv
Night at the Haunted Opera: Best New Horror Launch Event. Tuesday, October 6th @ 6:30pm. 53rd Street Library, 18 West 53rd Street. Featuring Deena Helm, Kailee Pedersen, Saratoga Schaefer, and Becky Spratford.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Come see me and Brian Wong 🎹 perform Haunted Opera at the NYPL 53rd Street Branch on Oct 6th at 6:30pm (in person & livestreamed)! Our spooky program features music on mortality, dread, obsession, and - my personal fave - making out with a severed head. 🎶👻🩸 Free tickets: tr.ee/n0vrOv
Kailee Pedersen & Brian Wong present Haunted Opera. October 6, 2026 at 6:30pm at the NYPL - 53rd Street Library. Digital Program.Program. Franz Schubert (1797-1828). Der Tod und das Mädchen (Death and the Maiden). A young woman begs Death to not take her from the world before her time. Death responds that she will sleep in his arms. Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel). Gretchen anxiously contemplates her love for Faust, who unbeknownst to her has sold his soul to the devil and doomed them both. Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924). "Tu? Tu? Piccolo iddio!" (You, you, little angel!) from MADAMA BUTTERFLY. The geisha Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly) bids farewell to her son for the final time before dying by suicide. Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949). "Ah, ich habe deinen Mund geküsst, Jochanaan..." (Ah, I have kissed your mouth, Jochanaan...) from SALOME. Having convinced Herod to execute and decapitate John the Baptist (Jochanaan), Salome ecstatically kisses the severed head, reveling in the bloodshed. Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901). "Addio del passato" (Farewell, happy dreams of the past) from LA TRAVIATA. Dying of tuberculosis, the courtesan Violetta laments her lost love Alfredo and asks God to pardon her as a “fallen woman.”Kailee Pedersen writes haunted, unsettling speculative fiction. She graduated with a BA in classics from Columbia University, specializing in ancient Greek. Kailee was adopted from Nanning, China and grew up in Nebraska, where her family owns a farm. She is the author of the queer poetry chapbook Pastorale and the novel Sacrificial Animals, which was named one of The New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2024. When not scribbling down her next book, you can catch her studying opera performance at the Mozarteum University, playing video games, or working as a software engineer in New York City. The Minimalist is her second novel. Brian Wong is a collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and church musician in New York City. He currently serves as a staff pianist at The Juilliard School and as Director of Music Ministry at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brooklyn Heights. Brian has appeared at many prominent New York venues, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Metropolitan Opera Club. He received a Graduate Diploma in Collaborative Piano from The Juilliard School and a Master of Music in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Dang, hopefully we’ll catch you some other time! 🤗
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🥚 for the adoptee feed -- I'll be discussing THE MINIMALIST, my psychological horror novel with an adoptee protagonist, and also performing opera! Livestreamed & free. 😊
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
One night only, live from New York! 😊 Come join me, @deenahelm.bsky.social, @saratogaschaefer.bsky.social, and @raforall.bsky.social on 10/6 for an evening of horror & haunted opera (feat. Brian Wong on piano). 🎶👻 In person and livestreamed. Digital program to come. Get free tickets: tr.ee/n0vrOv
Night at the Haunted Opera: Best New Horror Launch Event. Tuesday, October 6th @ 6:30pm. 53rd Street Library, 18 West 53rd Street. Featuring Deena Helm, Kailee Pedersen, Saratoga Schaefer, and Becky Spratford.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It me
nytimes.com
Video: These Singing Lemurs Belt Like Opera Stars, Scientists Say
Scientists have found singing lemurs, known as indris, and opera singers use similar mouth shapes to create loud, high-pitched calls.
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 28/09/2026
For my 🥚 people and my 📚 people (some of you are both!)
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It was such a pleasure to share spooky classical music with everyone, especially the work of my beloved Bernard Herrmann (+ thank you to my pianist Quin Facey for the fabulous performance on keys!) 🎹
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Thank you Alyssa Alessi for organizing this incredible event, Roundhead Brewing Company for the wonderful venue, @copperdogbooks.bsky.social for holding down the fort selling books, and all the authors and folks I got to meet yesterday! 📚
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Alas, I only have these two pics from the Spooktastic Book Fair as I was spending all my time running around meeting people and prepping for my haunted opera performance. 👻🎶
Kailee Pedersen, author, holding up a sign saying "Spooktastic - Kailee Pedersen"Two novels - Sacrificial Animals and The Minimalist - by Kailee Pedersen, at a convention table behind a Spooktastic Book Fair placard for Kailee Pedersen.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Tomorrow at the Spooktastic Book Fair, one night only 😉🎶
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Can't wait for tomorrow! Come stop by and hear two adoptees 🥚 talk all things music, adoption experiences, and the price of art 🙂🎶🩸
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Catch me and the incredible pianist Quin Facey performing haunted opera at the Spooktastic Book Fair this Saturday at 5pm! I'm so excited to share our 25-minute program of ghosts, mortality, Gothic obsession, and bloodshed with listeners. 👻🎶🩸
Spooktastic Book Fair - Haunted Opera. Saturday, September 26 at 5pm. Digital Program. Featuring Kailee Pedersen, soprano, and Quinlan Facey, piano. Program. Ned Rorem (1923-2022). Emily's Goodbye Aria from OUR TOWN. Emily, the ghost of a young woman who died in childbirth, grieves her former life. Samuel Barber (1910-1981). Selections from VANESSA. "Must the winter come so soon". Erika laments the season's change, which has cast a chilling spell over the dilapidated manor house. "Do not utter a word". Vanessa, Erika's aunt, has waited twenty years for the arrival of her former lover Anatol. Now that he appears to have returned, her delusional obsession with him is on full display. Bernard Hermann (1911-1975). Selections from WUTHERING HEIGHTS. "I have dreamt". Cathy dreams of the moors at Wuthering Heights. "Open the window". Dying, Cathy pleads to see the moors one last time. She vows to Heathcliff that she will never let him go. Richard Strauss (1864-1949). "Ah, ich habe deinen Mund geküsst, Jochanaan..." ("Ah, I have kissed your mouth, Jochanaan..." from SALOME. Having convinced Herod to execute and decapitate John the Baptist (Jochanaan), Salome ecstatically kisses the severed head, reveling in the bloodshed. Bios of Kailee Pedersen and Quinlan Facey.
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Nailah @nailahkingwrites.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Check out the podcast now: rss.com/podcasts/tal...
rss.com
Talk Your Lit Podcast | Podcast on RSS.com
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Nailah @nailahkingwrites.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I am *23* downloads away from *500*, my shows first big milestone, so if you haven't listened to the show yet, check out season 1 ft @kaileepedersen.bsky.social @edenroyce.bsky.social and more, and the first half of S2 ft @gunsmile.bsky.social, @tiffmorris.bsky.social and more!
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🥚 for the adoptee feed, @notalegalrecord.net and I are doing an event together at the Winchester Public Library!
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Closing out the year with some incredible events in Massachusetts & NYC, including opera performances at the Spooktastic Book Fair & the New York Public Library! Thank you to the venues and organizers for having me, I'm so excited to chat about THE MINIMALIST and share haunted opera with folks 😊🎶🩸
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Art Credit: The Dying Artist by Zygmunt Andrychiewicz (public domain)
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
We're doing another Goodreads giveaway of THE MINIMALIST! Liven up your spooky season with a freaky, gruesome novel of classical music, psychological horror, and obsession as seen through a queer, Asian #adoptee lens. 🎶🩸 Enter here through October 1st: tr.ee/hnRAQ3
Goodreads Giveaway (through October 1) of THE MINIMALIST by Kailee Pedersen. Cover features the slashed-through silhouette of an Asian woman's face in the shape of a piano. Background image is THE DYING ARTIST by Zygmunt Andrychiewic - a skeletal grim reaper plays the violin for a dying man.
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 16/09/2026
please let your Boston-area friends and adoptee friends know this is happening next week! @kaileepedersen.bsky.social’s new book is a great read, creepy as hell, rich with all kinds of themes touching on music & identity & #adoption and much more—and I have the honor of talking about it with her.
Text of flyer:

Author Talk
Kailee Pedersen
Thursday, Sept. 24 7:00-8:30pm
Join author Kailee Pedersen for a conversation about her new novel The Minimalist, joined by Winchester librarian Tony Corsentino. In this lively and wide-ranging discussion, they will explore the ways that the author's experience as an intercountry adoptee from China informs her creative outlook.
For fans of Tar and The Piano Teacher, this gruesome and unsettling psychological drama is a darkly lucid literary portrait of a classical composer's descent into madness.
THE MINIMALIST
KAILEE
A NOVEL
PEDERSEN
Winchester
PUBLIC LIBRARY
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Can’t wait for this event tonight! 🎶🩸
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
🥚 for the adoptee feed -- if anyone is in NYC 🙂
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Looking for your next NYC bookish event? Join me & @kcbrattpfotenhauer.bsky.social on 9/15 6:30pm @ Sonbul! Courtesy of Yellow Peril Books, come hear us yap about all things Asian adoptee lit, classical music & psychological horror + support 2 incredible Asian owned businesses! RSVP: tr.ee/XU6ear
The Minimalist Author Talk, featuring Kailee Pedersen in conversation with KC Bratt-Pfotenhauer. Sept 15, 6:30-8:30pm, Sonbul (356 Throop Avenue) with Yellow Peril Books.

Tagline: Madness. Genius. Opera.A quotation from THE MINIMALIST (2026) by Kailee Pedersen, surrounded by images of horses and music notes: "When I was young, Ryder had said, my mother took me to see the horses at Coney Island. The ones on the carousel. [...] I knew then I would be a craftsman—not of wood or stone but of sound, glorious sound, the likes of which had never been heard before.”Author Talk! Kailee Pedersen in conversation with KC Bratt-Pfotenhauer. Tuesday, September 15th, Doors 6:30pm, Program 7-8:30pm. Sonbul 356 Throop Ave. The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen. One drink minimum purchase required. RSVP & details on our website (link in bio!). Yellow Peril Books.
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regular meghan 나영지 🇵🇸 @ruemcclammyhand.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
we are the ones seeing the viral dehumanizing jokes at our expense, we are the ones dying by suicide at a prodigious rate and being denied our medical histories and rights to know where we came from and who we are. a lot of you are tourists to this space and need to acknowledge that 🥚
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 07/09/2026
so, to summarize: posts in the #adoptees of Bluesky feed come from people who have survived adoption, displacement, severance; and only adoption-focused posts that include certain hashtags or symbols go into the feed.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Throwback to the launch of THE MINIMALIST at The Twisted Spine with @kosokojackson.bsky.social! What a wonderful evening in Williamsburg to start off my second book tour, full of friends, incredible conversation, and the perfect spooky vibes. 😊🎶🩸 Photo Credit: Garland Quek
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Matthew Kressel @matthewkressel.net · 05/09/2026
Here's the audio from last month's Fantastic Fiction at KGB readings, with guests Suzanne Palmer & Kailee Pedersen. A wonderful night! @datlow.bsky.social @kaileepedersen.bsky.social www.kgbfantasticfiction.org/2026/08/31/a...
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Neil Ottenstein @nottenst.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I also listened to "Huangdi" by @kaileepedersen.bsky.social read by @hollygodarkly.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy from @uncannymagazine.bsky.social 72 podcast. We will want to remember this when Best Poem nomination time comes around. www.uncannymagazine.com/article/huan...
uncannymagazine.com
Huangdi - Uncanny Magazine
She carries jasmine in her hair, the empire in her hands. Even now she folds up her youth, until the magnolias stop bleeding in the imperial gardens. Death follows in its place, a loyal hound. When fa...
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
My opera teacher, who lives in Austria and I wasn't sure was aware of pop culture after 1800, has told me to watch Widow's Bay, so I guess I'm now legally obligated to get around to it...
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Thank you to Konrad Stump for featuring THE MINIMALIST on @ozarksfirst.bsky.social! Honored to be mentioned alongside PORTRAIT OF A HAUNTING by @madisontnelson.bsky.social and THIS B JUST WON'T DIE! by @tanyapell.bsky.social. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgx6...
youtube.com
Book Club: The Minimalist, Portrait of A Haunting, & This B Just Won't Die
YouTube video by Ozarks First
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kwisatz haderade (#FreeSkylar) @booksandbows.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
my waiting room companion, @kaileepedersen.bsky.social you are so unbelievably talented!!!
The Minimalist by Kailee Pederson. The cover shows a woman with red lipstick smeared onto her cheek, the photograph is cut in the shape of a grand piano that suggests the letter M.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Thank you, so glad you’re enjoying & it’s reaching adoptee readers! ☺️🤗
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Thank you 🥰❤️
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Ginger Coffee Creams of Horror @gnofhorror.com · 03/09/2026
It's such a good book
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Jamedi @jamreads.com · 03/09/2026
New review - a character study, a gorgeous yet unsettling piece, straight to my fave list
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Jamedi @jamreads.com · 02/09/2026
The Minimalist, by @kaileepedersen.bsky.social (pub by @stmartinspress.bsky.social) is an utterly brilliant novel, a deeply personal piece that dissects its main character to weave an equally gorgeous and unsettling book. Not easy to capture in words. Full thoughts: jamreads.com/reviews/the-... 💙📚
jamreads.com
JamReads - Making your TBR closer to infinite
In JamReads you will find content about books, and why you should read them more. This content may include reviews, interviews and occasionally, some news of the literary world
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I wrote “Huangdi” my freshman year of college and it’s finally out in the world! Thank you to @uncannymagazine.bsky.social for publishing a poem I’ve believed in for 12 years 🤗🥰
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
And yes all my work is really personal, growing up queer, adopted & Asian in Nebraska means issues of patrimony & family definitely show up a lot ☺️🤗 for this new one it’s mostly about my experiences with adoption, mental illness, classical music & the price of art 🎶🩸
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I think Pastorale is only available to order online (Burnside Review is a small but mighty press), but The Minimalist just released and should hopefully be at an indie bookstore near you! Thank you so much for your interest and I hope you enjoy them also.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed. 🥰 That book is really close to my heart & so personal. I've been really lucky to have wonderful covers over the years, including Rory Sparks for PASTORALE @burnsidereview.bsky.social and Rob Grom for THE MINIMALIST @stmartinspress.bsky.social
The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen (cover by Rob Grom), featuring an Asian woman's face in a slashed-through piano silhouettePastorale by Kailee Pedersen (cover by Rory Sparks), featuring a minimalist design of a meadow silhouetted in black beneath a red-orange sunset-like background
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Thank you, all credit to Olga Grlić of @stmartinspress.bsky.social for the wonderful design. www.olgagrlic.com
olgagrlic.com
olga grlic
olga grlic design
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Jocelyne Allen @brainvsbook.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I bought this book based on the cover and the title alone. It did not disappoint! Deeply disturbing horror in many ways. #AmReading
Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen. The cover is black with a negative-type image in red of a fox with its mouth open, tongue hanging out, filling the entire cover. The title is in white block letters that have like little cracks in them. Really eye-catching and unsettling cover.
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Bony 🦴 Skeletino 💀 @notalegalrecord.net · 31/08/2026
coming up in a few weeks! 🥚 📚 @kaileepedersen.bsky.social
Author Talk
Kailee Pedersen
Thursday, Sept. 24 7:00-8:30pm
Join author Kailee Pedersen for a conversation about her new novel The Minimalist, joined by Winchester librarian Tony Corsetino. In this lively and wide-ranging discussion, they will explore the ways that the author's experience as an intercountry adoptee from China informs her creative outlook.

For fans of Tar and The Piano Teacher, this gruesome and unsettling psychological drama is a darkly lucid literary portrait of a classical composer's descent into madness.
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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Thanks, so glad you are enjoying! And she’s definitely going to some pretty dark places, I have to say 😂😅
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