Episode Description
This week I'm talking with Kayla Hardy about her debut novel The Quarter Queen, a historical fantasy following Marie Laveau and her daughter in nineteenth century New Orleans. We get into how the book started as a television pilot before becoming a novel, the real history behind voodoo and its ties to Catholicism, and why she built a fictional Brotherhood to stand in for real systems of power. We also talk through her research process walking the French Quarter, the playlist she built for each character, and of course her dream cast for the eventual show. It's a conversation about faith, folklore, and what it means to write a story that reclaims a piece of history nobody else was telling.
Chapters:
00:00 — Welcome to Kayla Hardy and The Quarter Queen
01:19 — Falling in love with reading through Greek mythology
03:23 — From English major to African American literature and voodoo studies
06:47 — Toni Morrison, Beloved, and The Bluest Eye
08:51 — Why voodoo and New Orleans are central to the story
10:25 — What media gets wrong about voodoo
11:44 — Reclaiming zombie mythology and Black folklore
15:20 — How the story started as a TV pilot
17:19 — Turning the project into a novel for creative control
19:30 — Why the story still wants to be television
24:27 — A quick synopsis of The Quarter Queen
26:38 — Marie and Ree as opposites who mirror each other
28:24 — The dual timeline structure and Marie's emotional mask
31:53 — The Brotherhood, the Inquisition, and real historical power structures
36:59 — Writing Marie Laveau as a veiled and complicated figure
40:35 — Why New Orleans is more than a tourist image
43:31 — Building the playlist and cinematic tone of the book
46:10 — Walking, maps, and planning the French Quarter setting
48:24 — Favorite New Orleans food, beignets, and a perfect day in the city
54:23 — What it means to be from both Akron and New Orleans
58:35 — Where to find Kayla, and why people should read the book