A.R. Kaufer has been writing stories since she was thirteen, and in just a few short years, she’s built an impressive catalog of fantasy and romantasy novels that enchant readers around the world. Best known for The Courtship Saga and The Stolen Royalty Series—a collection of fairytale retellings with a paranormal twist—Kaufer blends emotion, adventure, and inclusivity into every tale.
In this interview, Kaufer shares her journey from her early influences like Stephen King and Poe to her love of found family tropes, her approach to representation, and her newest release, Tower of the Lost Princess, a “Rapunzel meets Robin Hood” story that’s sure to captivate fans of magical worlds and heartfelt storytelling.
A multi-genre author and poet, Cathrine Swift says her earliest memory of falling in love with reading involved a book called Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. The book features a young princess who runs away from marriage and castle life to live with dragons. Swift says, “My DNA was forever changed by it, and the rest of the series, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I saw (badass, femme) women (and gentle, loving men) doing badass things for the greater good, and my writing blueprint was created. Of course, I didn’t know or fully understand it at the time, but looking back now, the evidence is right there.”
The year is 1456: Queen Amelia has barely survived her first year of marriage to the wicked King Alaric. When she accepted his marriage proposal arranged by their fathers, she believed it her sole opportunity to fulfill her birthright as ruler of Dathoviel and protect her brother from the throne he feared. But she can no longer sit back and watch helplessly as her husband destroys her land and starves her people. She must find the strength to fight back.
Q: What has been the most unexpected lesson you’ve learned about yourself through writing? A: That your art isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. My books are written for a specific group of people. It’s a broad group, to be sure, but we as authors have a target audience, and it’s a marketing term for sure, but at the end of the day it’s just about finding our people. The ones who are going to be touched by the themes and circumstances of our books. And the rest, the people who don’t get it…well, that just means that particularly story wasn’t meant for them. But it is meant for someone. For a lot of someones. So don’t give up, your people will find you, and your art will impact their lives—for the better.
Write on the World 