Kara Leigh Storti is an award-winning young adult fiction writer. Her first published book, Tripping Back Blue, won the gold medal for the Independent Publisher Book Awards in Young Adult Fiction. Tripping Back Blue deals with heroin addiction and the opioid crisis that affects the younger population in the US. Presumably, because of its content, Nashville governor Bill Lee moved to ban Tripping Back Blue from Wilson County, Tennessee libraries, along with books from authors including Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Alice Sebold, Kurt Vonnegut, and others.

Kara’s next book is forthcoming in 2026 by Hachette Book Group and is about a teen with epilepsy who travels to other dimensions through her seizures.

Throughout her career, she has mentored aspiring writers, taught high school and college writing classes, and edited books for other authors. Kara graduated from the University of Southern Maine with an MFA in Creative Writing. She lives with her husband in “Witch City” Salem, Massachusetts and practices tarot card readings with her dog Osmosis.