I had the opportunity to sit down with Chelsea Banning, author of Of Crowns and Legends, a creative retelling and expansion of Arthurian legends. Banning’s book, the first in a planned trilogy, gained traction in 2022 after the author’s tweet lamenting the lack of attendance at her book signing went viral.
After the success of her first book, Banning has been working hard on the second installment of her fantastical tale, titled Of Realms and Fate. The much-anticipated book is set for release this fall. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Chelsea Banning interview
Bryn Wolanski (BW): Hi, Chelsea! Thank you so much for joining me. To start us off, what inspired you to write your series?
Chelsea Banning (CB): Thank you for having me! I think it was when I was in 11th grade, taking an early British lit class, and one of the assignments was to read Le Morte d'Arthur [by Sir Thomas Malory], and during that, I found Avalon High by Meg Cabot. The first, like, Arthurian retelling that I read, and I fell in love with it, and I was like, “I want to write something.” And I did.
BW: So what drew you specifically to Arthurian legend retellings? What about Arthurian legends is so appealing to you?
CB: It started with Avalon High, and then I started finding as many retellings as I could. In each of those retellings, you had these found family elements and all this chemistry between the characters, and it was just all about the relationships between these characters that really caught my eye.
The classic and medieval stuff just kind of summarizes and doesn't really dive into narration or inside the characters' heads. It’s very much like, “And then Arthur was happy and he did the thing.” So it'll tell you, “They were brothers in arms,” but it doesn't really give you that chemistry.
That's what I kind of fell in love with. Especially being in high school at the time, I always felt like the outsider in my friend group and a third wheel. So I fell in love with the Arthurian characters in these retellings because I wanted friends like that.
BW: How do you feel now about your own characters that you've written? Do you still want friends like them?
CB: Well, to be fair, I have friends like that now. A lot of the characters in my novel are based off of friends that I performed with at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. My first two years there, we did renditions of King Arthur. I was able to get so much inspiration from my castmates and how deeply they developed their characters. I got really lucky that I didn't have to make up all of those personalities from scratch.
BW: What is something you learned about the original stories during your writing and research that you were kind of surprised about? Was there anything that kind of stood out to you that you thought was weird or interesting?
CB: Not weird, but it was nice, pleasantly surprising, to find out that there were knights of color in the medieval legends. There were two knights, Sir Palomedes and Sir Morien, I believe? It's been a long time since I read the original legends.
But I thought that was fantastic because Britain wasn't white; it was actually kind of diverse. The Romans that had taken slaves from whoever they conquered at that point, so they became extremely diverse, and Britain did trading with North Africa and other countries, so it wouldn't have been too surprising to find someone who wasn't white. So it was nice to see that there was inclusion and representation.
BW: What makes your retelling different and compelling from others? How do you set your story apart?
CB: When I started my retelling originally, Arthur and Gwen were going to be alive, it was going to be about their children, and they were going to have this happy ending… I shifted some timelines and ages, like making Guinevere younger than Arthur and making Arthur’s reign in Camelot a lot longer.
I went with the idea of Guinevere continuing to rule Camelot and expand on Arthur’s vision and asked questions, like, “What if they did have children? How would those kids be?” And as I was writing, I realized that the characters of these children needed an edge and that one of the ways to do that was to have Arthur die. It's harder to live up to a dead man's shadow than it is a live person's shadow because you know him, you see him, you witness his flaws. A dead Arthur isn't human; he’s more like a legend or a god, and that would leave all this pressure and these expectations on the shoulders of his kids. I really wanted to explore how they would deal with that, how these kids would grow up, how Camelot could continue.
BW: So you take a different approach with this and let the “what if” questions paint a completely new story.
CB: Exactly. I didn't want to write another traditional retelling that was just another Arthur origin story. That’s already been done. Like how all these superhero movies are just retelling all the origin stories that we know- we know Batman's parents were killed, we know Superman crashed on a farm. We know, we get it. I want to know about what happens after. I've never really come across retellings that address what could happen after Camelot or what could happen after Arthur dies. I wanted to explore, “What then? What next?” and it’s become something really special.
Banning can be found on most social media outlets as @Chelseawritesbooks and at her website ChelseaBanning.com. She also documents her writing process and experiences on her YouTube channel.
Similar books to read next
After the interview, I collaborated with Banning to compile a list for readers looking for a new, unique, or different take on the Arthurian legends and myths (aside from her book, of course). Here are some of the recommendations we came up with. Happy reading!
The young adult series Avalon High by Meg Cabot was mentioned in the interview, but it deserves another mention here. Arthurian legends being retold in a high school setting is a fantastic take.
But that’s not all. Mary Stewart’s Arthurian Saga (comprising five books) retells legends from Merlin’s perspective.
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle is a children’s story that retells the legend of King Arthur and the formation of the Knights of the Round Table.
T. H. White wrote The Once and Future King, famous for its humorous take on the tales. Disney even adapted the book into the animated film The Sword in the Stone.
Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch is a feminist retelling of the early life and backstory of Morgan le Fay.
Both Lisa Ann Sandell’s novel Song of the Sparrow and Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian offer retellings of Elaine of Ascolat, the Lady of Shalott.
Legendborn is a wonderful young adult fantasy retelling by Tracy Deonn that mixes Arthurian legend with black Southern American magic.
Rosalind Miles wrote a trilogy told from Guenevere’s perspective that chronicles her life and relationships, the first book being Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country.
The Other Merlin series by Robyn Schneider is a hilarious young adult retelling that has drama, adventure, and plenty of chuckles.
T. A. Barron has authored multiple middle-grade fiction series, the first of which is Tmiddle-grade, which tells the story of how Merlin became the legendary wizard.
Natania Barron’s first book in her series tells the tale of King Arthur’s sister, who was a pawn for most of her life until a latent magical talent within her wakes.
Mad Merlin by J. Robert King is the first book in a series known as the Arthurian Triptych. Each book retells a piece of Arthurian legend from the perspective of a different character: Merlin, Lancelot, and Morgan le Fey each have their tale to tell.
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