Dhonielle Clayton

Dhonielle Clayton is an American author of young adult and children's fiction. She is a former librarian and co-founder of CAKE Literary, a book packaging company focused on diverse stories. She is known for creating lush, fantastical worlds that centre Black characters and explore themes of beauty, power and self-acceptance. The Beauty Trials continues her Belles series, set in a world where beauty is a commodity controlled by a magical elite. Clayton's fiction combines sumptuous world-building with sharp social commentary, using fantasy to explore real-world questions about beauty standards, race and the commodification of appearance. Available as both books and audiobooks, Dhonielle Clayton's novels offer rich listening and reading for fans of YA fantasy who appreciate gorgeous world-building, diverse representation and stories that use fantasy to illuminate the real-world politics of beauty and power.