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Kailee Pedersen

@kaileepedersen.bsky.social

1.7K followers 1.6K following 200 posts

THE MINIMALIST (St. Martin's, '26) PASTORALE (Burnside Review '25) SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS (St. Martin’s + Titan '24) writer/opera singer/swe | 🏳️‍🌈🇨🇳 adoptee | she/her rep: Paul Lucas @ Regal Hoffmann kaileepedersen.com

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · Aug 21

Unbelievably excited to share this update to my fall events for the paperback release of SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS!

4 states, a return to my hometown in Nebraska 🌽, and some amazing conversations await!

Thank you to the bookstores and fellow writers for having me!

SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS paperback events with Kailee Pedersen

Fountain Bookstore
August 28th at 6pm ET - Richmond, VA
with Fountain Bookseller Charlie Marks

The World's Borough Bookshop
September 4th at 7pm ET - Queens, NY
with Clay McLeod Chapman

Brooklyn Books & Booze at Barrow's Intense
September 17th at 7pm ET - Brooklyn, NY
reading with Randee Dawn, Liz Gotauco, and David Mack

Barnes & Noble (The Crossings at Smithfield)
October 26th at 2pm ET - Smithfield, RI
with Paul Tremblay

Sower Books
November 14th at 7pm CT - Lincoln, NE

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18h

This lock screen is iconic ofc

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18h

A super long time ago my friend and I wanted to do a community theatre Amadeus production, he was going to play Amadeus and I’d be Caterina Cavollaro (thenon speaking role) but actually sing the arias live lol

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18h

Yessss! I just have to start convincing bookstores to have me (I managed to convince my long-suffering pianist lol) 👻 there’s so much good spooky repertoire + I’d feature queer and Jewish composers

[Salieri voice] Mediocrities everywhere!!!

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Reposted by Kailee Pedersen

Ditmas Lit @ditmaslit.bsky.social · 19h

The next Ditmas Lit is Wed. Oct. 22! We’re excited to welcome readers @megancummins.bsky.social, Tierney
Oberhammer, @kaileepedersen.bsky.social, and Anna Rasche. RSVP at www.urbanebrooklyn.com/event-detail...

Ditmas Lit | The Urbane

A monthly reading series in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, dedicated to showcasing a diverse range of emerging and established writers in all genres. Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm.

www.urbanebrooklyn.com

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 20h

It’s literally releasing on Salieri’s bday lmaooooooooo

I’m planning to pitch to some bookstores a haunted opera event where I do a short program with my pianist of spooky opera arias (Vanessa, The Shining, The Turn of the Screw) instead of a traditional book launch 🙏

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 1d

Opera nerds unite!!!!

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you, hope you enjoy! 🙂

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! And yes, I’m excited for it to finally be out in the world & reach adoptee readers 🙏 Now to wait nervously while I finish my third novel 🤣

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 1d

🥚 for the adoptee feed - this is my second novel, and my first with an adoptee protagonist! 🥰 🙂

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 1d

Digital galleys of my second novel, THE MINIMALIST, are now available on Edelweiss!

“To compose is among the bitterest of self-mutilations..."

Request here: www.edelweiss.plus#sku=1250328276

eGalleys on Edelweiss available now for Kailee Pedersen's THE MINIMALIST. Cover features an Asian woman's face inside the silhouette of a piano.

The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen - out in hardcover August 18, 2026

Cover features an Asian woman's face inside the silhouette of a piano.

Novel includes: classical music psychodrama; gruesome, unsettling, queer elements; vibes of Tár and The Piano Teacher; a descent into madness; a bisexual protagonist; Asian adoptee issues; and 20th century Jewish composers.

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you, so happy you enjoyed! 🥰

Reposted by Kailee Pedersen

Sara Hinkley @boneysoups.bsky.social · 3d

this is SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS by @kaileepedersen.bsky.social and I found it knotty and erotic and horrible. Filled me with dread. Abysmal vibes. Wonderful

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Reposted by Kailee Pedersen

Sara Hinkley @boneysoups.bsky.social · 3d

First book of vacation down. My review is that it fucking ruled

Sara your beautiful friend is poolside by the ocean of Grand Cayman with SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS by Kailee Pedersen

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 8d

Had an amazing time discussing queer and BIPOC horror with my friend Briana Cox (author of INDIGENT) on Horror Humor Hunger. We cover everything from Kiyoshi Kurosawa and #OwnVoices to Mulholland Drive and opera.

Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Exploring Marginalized Voices in Horror with Briana Cox and Kailee Pedersen

Podcast Episode · Horror Humor Hunger · 09/30/2025 · 48m

podcasts.apple.com

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 8d

Just bought 16 games in the Steam sale. Might buy some more later. Oops.

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 14d

Come see me perform Pamina in The Magic Flute ✨🪈 this Friday, 7pm at the Plainfield Masonic Temple in New Jersey with a cast of wonderful singers!

Concert performance (including dialogue) in German. Abridged with running time of ~2.5 hours.

Flyer designed by Jerusalem Lodge.

New York Opera Forum in a concert performance of The Magic Flute by Mozart. Friday, September 26, 2026. 7:00pm Concert. Plainfield Masonic Temple - 2nd Floor Ballroom. 105 East Seventh Street, Plainfield, NJ 07060. Concert $30 includes coffee, tea and cake. Parking available in lot or across street on 7th. Presented by Jerusalem Lodge & Paladin-Sinclair Concerts 732-718-4934.

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 16d

Finally got my author copies of the SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS paperback! 🥰

The gorgeous (and very foxy 🦊) cover design is by Olga Grlić (bookcoversbyoj on Instagram)

Sacrficial Animals by Kailee Pedersen in paperback. Cover features a red fox on a black background.

Spines of several paperback copies of SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS by Kailee Pedersen displayed stacked atop each other. Cover features a red fox on a black background.

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18d

Enjoyed these recommendations? Here's some gothic & operatic stuff I wrote:

Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen, cover depicts a red fox on black background.

The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen, cover depicts an Asian woman's face inside a slashed-up piano silhouette.

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18d

Vanessa
Premiered 1958
Composer Samuel Barber
Librettist Gian Carlo Menotti

Isolated in her country house, Vanessa awaits the return of her lover Anatol from twenty years ago. A young man declaring himself to be “Anatol” eventually arrives, but he is revealed to be Anatol’s son. When a love triangle develops between Erika, Vanessa’s niece, and the new “Anatol”, Vanessa descends into delusion in this starkly chilling tragedy. Vanessa is an underappreciated gem of twentieth-century American opera by Samuel Barber with a libretto by his life partner Gian Carlo Menotti.

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18d

Bluebeard's Castle
Premiered 1918
Composer Béla Bartók
Librettist Béla Balázs

Bluebeard’s Castle is a short symbolist opera lasting an hour with only two characters - Bluebeard and his new wife, Judith. As judith opens the doors of bluebeard’s castle, she must confront the reality of her new married life. filled with gorgeous and challenging polytonal music for the singers and orchestra, Bluebeard’s Castle weaves a dissonant, dark spell.

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18d

Salome
Premiered 1905
Composer Richard Strauss
Librettist Oscar Wild (trans. Hedwig Lachmann)

Banned in London until 1907, Salome contains erotic and violent elements that have long proved controversial, including the “Dance of the Seven Veils” and the beheading of John the Baptist. extraordinarily beautiful in its musical color and symbolism, Salome is a stunning 90 minutes of death and desire.

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18d

The Turn of the Screw
Premiered 1954
Composer Benjamin Britten
Librettist Myfanwy Piper (after Henry James's novella)

Based on the gothic horror novella by Henry James, The Turn of the Screw depicts a governess caring for two children at an English manor house. The governess begins to believe the children are haunted by the ghosts of two former employees of the manor. Benjamin Britten‘s opera contains the 12-note “Screw” theme, which musicologist Peter Evans contends implies “an infinitely extended pattern”, suggesting that “this screw can turn forever.”

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Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18d

Wuthering Heights
Written 1951
Composer Bernard Herrmann
Librettist Lucille Fletcher (after Emily Brontë's Novel & Poetry)

Bernard Herrmann was a Jewish-American composer and conductor. Most known for his work in film, he composed the scores for several Alfred Hitchcock movies (including psycho), Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, and Martin Scorsese’s taxi driver. WUTHERING HEIGHTS, his only opera, is rather beautiful, intensely dramatic, and rarely performed.

Kailee Pedersen @kaileepedersen.bsky.social · 18d

Tomorrow is my Pamina debut in a local production of The Magic Flute, and with spooky season fast approaching I thought I'd recommend some particularly haunted operas. With an emphasis on Jewish and LGBTQ+ composers & librettists, these five Gothic operas 👻 are among my favorites in the repertoire!

Five Gothic Operas for Spooky Season Listening

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Reposted by Kailee Pedersen

Brooklyn Books & Booze @ Barrow's Intense @bklynbooksbooze.bsky.social · 19d

Amazing readings, a F*cked Up Fae Fizz, & s'mores? That's what BBB offered on Wednesday with tales from @davidmack.bsky.social @kaileepedersen.bsky.social @randeedawn.com & @cosbrarian.bsky.social ! More pics at the link -- & join us 10/21 for sips, stories and MORE!

randeedawn.com/bonus/brookl...

Kailee Pedersen, Randee Dawn, Liz Gotauco and David Mack hold their books and stories outside Barrow's Intense Ginger Tasting room in Brooklyn after September 17th's Brooklyn Books & Booze reading

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