Alyssa Wees

Alyssa Wees writes lyrical fantasy in which art, folklore, and uncertain perception reshape ordinary lives. Nocturne, published by Del Rey, sets a dark fable in 1930s Chicago, following prima ballerina Grace Dragotta as a secretive patron complicates her pursuit of transcendence through dance. Her debut, The Waking Forest, appeared from Delacorte Press as a young-reader fantasy, bringing together Rhea's vanishing woodland visions and a wish-granting witch whose separate stories gradually converge. Ballet is more than scenery in the first novel, just as the forest structures the second: each becomes a way to examine desire, memory, and identity. Wees earned an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia College Chicago and has served in youth services at a public library. Those experiences sit naturally beside her movement between Del Rey fantasy and fiction for younger readers.