Kayla Hardy is a mythology expert and multi-hyphenate author and screenwriter of Louisiana Creole descent. She earned her PhD in creative writing and African
American literature from SUNY Binghamton University. Hardy is an adjunct professor at SUNY Binghamton University and is an accomplished scholar of Black folklore, mythology, and Voodoo.
The Quarter Queen is her first novel.
Recently I asked Hardy about what she was reading. Her reply:
I recently reread Lindsey Stewart’s The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic which is such a seminal work of art that explores the essential contributions of black conjure women through American history in respect to spirituality and health. The book does an excellent 
job of tracing black wellness back to the southern plantation system where black women first practiced conjure magic to cure illnesses with herbal tinctures and mixtures, whose recipes have endured to this day. The book shows that these practices have lived on to shape positive counter narratives of power in the face of slavery and the Jim Crow era as well as influencing medicinal staples used for everyday purposes. Coming off of writing The Quarter Queen which centers African-American spirituality, it is a reminder to me that black magic does not simply live within the confines of a fantasy, but has lived within our world in a plethora of forms.
Visit
Kayla Hardy's website.
The Page 69 Test: The Quarter Queen.
Q&A with Kayla Hardy.
My Book, The Movie: The Quarter Queen.
--Marshal Zeringue
American literature from SUNY Binghamton University. Hardy is an adjunct professor at SUNY Binghamton University and is an accomplished scholar of Black folklore, mythology, and Voodoo.
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