Welcome to my official author site!
I’m Kris Waldherr. My many books for adults and children include Bad Princess, Doomed Queens, and The Book of Goddesses. My fiction has won fellowships from the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, and a reading grant from Poets & Writers. As a visual artist, I’m the creator of the Goddess Tarot, and have had my illustrations exhibited in the Ruskin Library, the Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. I’m also a tarotist who teaches the tarot to writers and other creatives.
My latest book is Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women, which has garnered extraordinary praise. Foreword Reviews calls Unnatural Creatures “an atmospheric, reimagined classic,” while the Historical Novels Review states Unnatural Creatures is “worthy of comparison to Jean Rhys’s Wild Sargasso Sea . . . a splendid achievement from a writer at the height of her powers.” It was honored as an Editor’s Choice, their highest recommendation. In addition, Unnatural Creatures was named one of the 25 best books to read for Halloween by Reader’s Digest. My debut novel The Lost History of Dreams, a Victorian-set gothic, was awarded a Kirkus star and named a best book of the year by CrimeReads. My next book is Tarot for Storytellers: A Modern Guide for Writers and Other Creatives, which will come out in mid-2024.
I live and work in Brooklyn in a Victorian-era house with my family. My literary representation is by Michelle Brower of Trellis Literary Management.
Read on to learn more about my journey as an author and artist.
A History
How it all began, what happened along the way, and where it's going.
Children's Books
As a child, I always wrote stories and made art. However, a full scholarship to the School of Visual Arts seemed a sign I should focus on art—writing could wait. While at SVA, I learned about the Pre-Raphaelites, which inspired me to become a book illustrator and designer. After graduation, I threw myself whole-heartedly into my new career and soon sold Rapunzel, my first picture book, to Dial Books. Later, I freelanced for Dial as a children's book designer while illustrating my second picture book, The Firebird. I also began to write again, which led to my writing and illustrating my third picture book, Persephone and the Pomegranate.
Goddess Power
After publishing Persephone and the Pomegranate, I decided I wanted to create illustrated books for all ages—books that would be treasured by women and their daughters—as well as more books about goddesses. My next book was The Book of Goddesses, which became a One Spirit/Book of the Month Club bestseller. Its success enabled me to fully focus on illustrating books for myself and other authors; I stopped freelancing as a book designer. In time, The Book of Goddesses led to the creation of The Goddess Tarot, which has over a quarter of a million copies in print.
Women's History
The success of The Book of Goddesses made me eager to push my creative boundaries. Next up was The Lover's Path, perhaps my most innovative book: the book design featured folded out letters, maps, and a fictional backstory inspired by the life of Tullia d'Aragona, a famed poet-courtesan of 16th century Italy. I also became a mother, which inspired the gallows humor of Doomed Queens, a survey of how women have been systematically disempowered throughout history. The New Yorker praised Doomed Queens as “utterly satisfying” and “deliciously perverse.” I also moved my studio into a storefront in Brooklyn, which doubled as a book arts gallery.
