Kaelen Felix has always known she wanted to be an artist. The poet and illustrator was only 2 years old when she picked up her first pencil, crayon, and watercolor paint. Now, more than two decades later, the St. Louis native is set to debut her first authored children’s book, Wings and Whispers – Tales of Friendship, Volume 1, a piece work that’s years in the making.
“I wrote Wings and Whispers – Tales of Friendship, Volume 1 many years ago, but it kept morphing, growing, and becoming a prevalent factor in my life,” Felix says. “About two years ago, I thought my entire life was going in the right direction. Then, it started to fall apart.”
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In the midst of personal challenges, Felix did what she knew best: create. A graduate of the University of Memphis College of Art, Felix applied her positive style of poetry to the illustrations on which she’d begun working back in 2017 and 2018. Her goal was to uplift and inspire after the COVID-19 pandemic brought disruption and dismay for many. Felix had published children’s books for clients in the past and wanted to take a crack at bringing to life a story she’d dreamed about for so long.
Wings and Whispers – Tales of Friendship, Volume 1 follows animal characters through various episodes that explain and explore the tragic turns life can take—and how these moments don’t have to diminish us. The result is a whimsical, colorful expression of imagination designed to delight young readers.
“I wanted to author a book that instills the values of moral kindness,” Felix says. “Let’s face it, the pandemic made the worst situations out of our minds and showed how angry our community and society can be. My goal was to remind people we are better than that.”
Well into the pandemic, Felix had plenty of great illustrations but wasn’t satisfied with the accompanying poetry. So, in 2023, she went back to the figurative drawing board and poured her heart into the manuscript. She got in touch with Prolific Pulse Press, a publisher based in Raleigh, North Carolina, who loved it.
Writing and illustrating requires two completely different sets of creative skills, Felix explains, but drafting the stories in a storyboard first helped her visually organize her work.
“In doing so, I can visually figure out which page is going to have spreads with illustration verses one with type,” she says. “Or a couple vignettes, for example, and by virtue, it allows you to decide the creative direction. Everybody has a unique method, but this works best for me, as I can completely envision the entire storyline.”
After years of brainstorming, drafting, and development, Felix’s book will be available for purchase on March 17. And though it took longer than she’d imagined, Felix knows she wouldn’t be here, book in hand, if she’d taken a different path.
“This has been a dream come true,” Felix says. “Since I was 13, this has been my dream, and it’s a moment I’ll always remember.”
