Had a great time at the MWKF Summer Camp in St. Louis this past weekend. I got to train with the woman widely considered to be the highest ranked female kendo sensei in the world, Chinatsu Murayama, which was very cool. #kendo

Happy Tanabata! 🎋

Was finally able to pick up my pre-ordered copy of #MurderAtTheHotelOrient by @alessandraranelli.bsky.social 🔪💋🛎️. I was lucky enough to read an early copy, but I’m excited to dive in again. This was my first time making it in to the new location of Monarch Books, too! #indiebookshop

Day 19: Rainy day at DisneySea! Last full day in Japan 🥲

Day 10: Sky Tree and Imperial Palace gardens

Day 7? Losing track 😅

Day 6: Shibuya

Days 4 & 5: Kendo shop, donuts, jogging, etc. #kendo #tokyo

Arriving in Japan! Plus first full day in Tokyo (Ikebukuro area). #japan #tokyo

I can finally share my big news! 🍾📚🎉 My next book has been announced, and I couldn't be more excited to be working with Caroline and join the Harper family. A million thanks to my agent Lily for making this happen! 🩷 I don't have a pub date yet, so stay tuned! #bookdeal @harpercollins.bsky.social

I have shiny new books coming (they're just not announced yet), but before they do, I'm going on an adventure to self-publishing land with my fantasy romance, A Sport of Wings. All the details - so far - are here: anna-stephens.com/2026/05/27/n...

New Horizons

There has been A LOT going on in the background over the last two years. The Dark Feather, book 3 of Songs of the Drowned, came out in March 2024 and the paperback in February 2025. I have, of cour…

anna-stephens.com

Now there’s a book title 🐝 #OMFGbees

My copy came in! THE BONE DOOR by Frances White is GORGEOUS 😍 It is also a fantastic read. #thebonedoor @franceswrites.bsky.social #fantasybooks #horrorbook

Gorgeous book mail today! 📚 The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean and Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker. #bookmail #bookmailisthebestmail @aardvarkbookclub.bsky.social @sunyidean.com

Happy Kodomo no hi (Children’s Day)! We have our koinobori and samurai helmet on display and even though it was a busy day, I managed to get us some matcha taiyaki ice cream #kodomonohi🎏

Fun fact: sometimes libraries (like the @jocolibrary.org) will put a copy of popular, waitlisted books on their NEW shelves for anyone to come grab 👀📚 Saw WE LOVE YOU, BUNNY by Mona Awad (one of my favorite authors) on the shelf, so of course I snatched it up! 😍 #amreading #weloveyoubunny

I went to a lovely new locally-owned Arabic coffee shop called Turath Coffee yesterday to get some work done. I tried their Turath Latte (with a special date and spice flavor) and it was delicious ☕️ The space is very comfortable with atmospheric music. I’ll definitely be back! #amwriting

Happy Independent Bookstore Day! 📚 I had a busy schedule, but managed to pop into both Monstera’s Books and Ink and Page in Downtown Overland Park. Found an old Ruth Ware book I haven’t read before 💪 #independentbookshop #IndieBookstoreDay

Finally made it over to check out the Parade of Hearts book sculpture (with tradeable books inside!) outside @rainydaybooks ❤️📚 And then of course I had to go shopping. Spotted THE TRUTH OF CARCOSA by @jacobrollinson.bsky.social on the shelves, so I bought a copy for my dad for Father’s Day.

Did a bit of celebrating with my family over the weekend for…reasons 🤐 Watch this space for some exciting news in coming weeks! 🍾🎉📚

I had a rare weekend morning all to myself (🤯) and decided to pop in to The Book Club—a new(ish) bookstore and coffee shop only about 15 mins from my house. I brought my laptop and settled in to grade my MFA students’ final projects with a coffee and used paperback for only $7.00. #indiebooksellers

When my daughter Willow was younger, she adored the Jasmine Toguchi chapter books by @debbimichiko.bsky.social When she got older, she read and loved the MG book KEEP IT TOGETHER, KEIKO CARTER. Willow is now 14 (but not ready for YA) & very excited to read the Last Chance Academy books! 📚🥰

Despite an awful cold snap, I’m starting to see some little cherry blossoms on my tree 🌸 #alittlebeautyeveryday

I absolutely adored SUNBIRTH by An Yu. If you like lyrical, lightly speculative books (a good comp is Banana Yoshimoto), I highly recommend. I’d love to hear: do you have any “why isn’t everyone talking about this author?” author recommendations? 📚👀 #sunbirth #anyu #amreading #bookrecommendations

I searched my library for a book I want to read called THE LIBRARY OF TRAUMATIC MEMORY and it came back with one hit. I laughed out loud. I mean…this tracks? If there were a library of traumatic memory, it would probably be the internet 😂

In honor of Lunar New Year, I reading this fantastic book on Eastern storytelling methods (highly recommend) and drinking a Vietnamese coffee/tea pour-over from @coppercowcoffee which is quite good, as well ☕️ #SpringSummerAsteroidBird #kishotenketsu @henrylienauthor.bsky.social #lny #chinesenewyear

Yesterday was a GORGEOUS 75 degrees (in Kansas! In February!) so I pulled out my Christmas present from my husband—a super comfy outdoor chair—and got a bunch of editing done on my WIP. It was glorious ☺️☀️ #amwriting #amediting

When you finish reading a murder mystery set in a hotel while you're staying at a hotel, of course you have to do a mini photoshoot 😄📚 So delighted I received an ARC of MURDER AT THE HOTEL ORIENT by @alessandraranelli.bsky.social. Watch for this one in May! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ #murderatthehotelorient

I was excited to go buy a copy of #thetruthofcarcosa 👀👑 by @jacobrollinson.bsky.social Think of a kind of erudite HOUSE OF LEAVES—super creepy and filled with manuscript dread. #jacobrollinson #horror #thekinginyellow #amreading

Waiting for a flight, but I’ve got a cold brew shandy from @parisicoffee and a good book, so I’m happy 😊