By Emily Chaffins -
Photographer: Emily Chaffins
Sister Allison Regina Gliot stands in her office at the Pauline Books and Media Center in Miami June 2026, holding “The Dawn We Seek,” her last book in her vampire trilogy.
MIAMI | Sister Allison Regina Gliot still remembers the moment she realized that books have the power to transform. As a child listening to her mother narrating C.S. Lewis’ classic fantasy series, "The Chronicles of Narnia," she became immersed in imagination like never before.
Now a member of the Daughters of St. Paul – a religious congregation nicknamed the “media nuns” – 32-year-old Gliot is an award-winning author of six books and counting, hoping her stories will inspire readers as much as Narnia did her.
The Daughters of St. Paul were founded in 1915 in Italy by Blessed James Alberione and Venerable Thecla Merlo. The sisters share God’s love through social media content, books, music, podcasts, videos, radio and more. Approximately 2,400 sisters serve worldwide in over 50 countries.
Gliot has been stationed in Miami since 2024, helping her fellow “media nuns” at the Pauline Books & Media Center on 145 SW 107th Avenue. Before leaving for Italy on July 31 to prepare for final vows, she reflected with the Florida Catholic about how Miami has impacted her as an author – and how all writers, regardless of whether or not they pen religious content, can encounter Christ through their art form.
Writing for the Author of Life
For any young woman, discerning religious life isn’t just about figuring out whether she is called to become a nun. The Catholic Church contains a wide variety of religious congregations, each with special charisms.
The Church teaches that charisms are gifts from God that help people accomplish their unique role in the world. For the Daughters of St. Paul, their charism is evangelizing through media.
As Gliot highlighted: “Our founder, Blessed James Alberione, used to say that we aren't called to reach the people who lived 10 centuries ago; we're called to share the Gospel with the people of today, to learn how to speak their languages and meet them where they are so that we can walk with them toward communion with Christ and his Church.”
Her own gift for writing, developed from an early age, fits in perfectly with the Pauline mission.
In reality, Gliot didn’t start out expecting to publish anything – in fact, she didn’t consistently put her ideas on the page until college. As an eight-year-old, her first attempt at writing a full “book” resulted in "The Little Old Ladie Who Lost Her Flowers," a manuscript “complete with illustrations and a plethora of hilarious spelling mistakes.”
In college, “the more important my faith became to me, the more I felt like it should influence everything I was doing – even fun things, like writing,” Gliot shared. “I started praying about my storytelling and felt Jesus inspiring me to tell stories with faith dimensions.”
“I was already used to co-authoring with a friend, so it wasn't hard to shift into co-authoring with Jesus, and that helped me grow a lot closer to him,” she added.
Meanwhile, as a college student, Gliot had also felt drawn to religious life. She entered the Daughters of St. Paul in 2017, professing her first vows in 2021.
“After I entered the Daughters of St. Paul, I felt Jesus encouraging me to let my writing become more than just a hobby,” she said. “He wanted me to show my stories to others so that they could become a part of our mission. It took a while for me to gather the courage to listen to him, but I'm so glad I did.”
From veils to vampire stories
Gliot has written everything from picture books like "Eli’s Quiet Friend" – where a noise-sensitive boy with autism finds comfort in Eucharistic Adoration – to the non-fiction "Forgiven: A Guide to Confession and the Examen Prayer," co-authored with Sister Orianne Pietra René Dyck.
Photographer: Emily Chaffins
A piece of fan art for Sister Allison Regina Gliot’s Catholic vampire trilogy is displayed along with Book Two, “The Light They Left.” Gliot received the art from a teenage girl who shared, ‘When I finished the book, I was so happy that I danced around my room! But more importantly, I want you to know that it not only provided enjoyment, but also a deeper understanding in our Lord's love and mercy... It helps me remember that God loves me so much and that love inspires me to do good things."
Her Catholic vampire books for teens and young adults, known as the "In Aeternum" (For Eternity) trilogy, have garnered recent media attention. The urban fantasy series includes "The Curse He Chose," "The Light They Left" and "The Dawn We Seek," the latest of which was released July 24. The stories follow the adventures of an 18-year-old Catholic girl who encounters a teenager-turned-vampire desperate to be free from the need for blood.
The stories bring back long-lost Catholic elements that have influenced many classic vampire stories.
As Gliot explained, vampires in many traditional folktales were repulsed by consecrated spaces, blessed objects, and by prayer itself. Even in Bram Stoker’s famous novel, “The Eucharist is instrumental to Dracula's downfall.”
The Eucharist is also integral to Gliot’s version: “It's a driving force for the plot and a direct way that the characters encounter Jesus.”
Unafraid to explore life’s deepest mysteries, Gliot’s vampire novels “weave spiritual and existential questions into the worldbuilding and character growth.”
“The characters aren't just worried about whether they'll survive the vampires that are hunting them,” she said. “They want to know if their sins are forgivable and if their loved ones are in heaven and what on earth they're supposed to do if God isn't answering their prayers the way they want him to.”
The story concept came to her eight years ago. Prayer is an essential part of Gliot’s process as a writer, and the series was no exception.
“Jesus gave me some initial ideas for a vampire story that would be heavily shaped by Catholicism – and then he told me to wait and not do anything with those ideas,” said Gliot.
Two years later, as a postulant preparing to celebrate Christmas, she “felt [God] telling me that now was the time to start writing.”
Gliot experienced some doubts. “Nuns don't write vampire books!” she recalls thinking.
However, readers’ reception of the books have been astounding.
Gliot has received fan mail from people inspired to begin practicing their Catholic faith again, attend daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration, serve as Eucharistic ministers, or begin discerning vocations. A few readers made the leap to seek baptism.
She shared the example of “a high school boy who told me that he felt more confident in trusting God's mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation after reading about a character's difficulty in forgiving himself and finally finding healing in God's limitless love.”
Describing readers’ comments as humbling, Gliot directs the credit to God. “It only takes a little bit of openness for God to reach someone's heart, and sometimes reading a series like this can provide the fresh perspective or emotional resonance to create that opening.”
“Which I guess is why Jesus was so insistent about having me write such an unconventional story,” she reflected. “He knew it was needed for this moment.”
Inspirations and Writing Advice from Miami
Looking back on her two years in Miami, Gliot can pinpoint ways in which her experience of South Florida has shaped her writing.
“Sometimes it’s small things, like the sensory details that I used to describe a greenhouse after a visit to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden,” she said. “Other times, it's deeper things.”
Photographer: Courtesy
Sister Allison Regina Gliot, a Daughter of St. Paul who has authored six books and counting, reflected how Miami has impacted her as an author – and how all writers, regardless of whether they pen religious content, can encounter Christ through their art form.
Pauline Books & Media, a staple of the Miami Catholic community for over 65 years, receives prayer intentions from across South Florida. One of the stand-out concerns Gliot has witnessed is people dealing with immigration-related issues. She sees the impact on her current work-in-progress, a science fiction tale.
“Set in a fictional future, the story often revolves around questions of what it truly means to belong, how to stand up in the face of injustice, and the challenges that can arise when the powers-that-be insist on values that don't necessarily align with our Catholic faith,” she said.
While living in Miami, she has also formed lasting friendships with other writers. As of January 2026, she completed a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing for Young People. The degree was granted by the Solstice MFA Program at Lasell University in Massachusetts, a secular program that was partially remote.
“Many of my classmates either grew up as ‘nones’ or had negative experiences with religion in their younger years,” said Gliot. “For many of them, I was the first religious sister – and sometimes the first Catholic – they encountered.”
“I was touched by the end of my time in the program at how many of them shared spiritual experiences or prayer intentions with me, or even just had the courage to ask me honest questions about what it means to be a sister and why I believe what I do,” she added.
Gliot recommends frequent reading as a great way to grow as a storyteller and also cautions writers about getting stuck in perfectionism.
“Don't worry about being good or not – you'll never get good if you never start,” she said. “Write what you love and what you're passionate about. Write what makes you a better person and helps you see reality more clearly.”
She also encourages aspiring writers to make prayer a part of the process.
“Don't be afraid to talk to Jesus about your writing, whether or not you're writing books that include faith elements,” she said. “God is infinitely more creative than we are, so you can trust that he has good ideas to make your work even better – or perhaps deeper – than you've imagined it on your own.”
To learn more about the Pauline Books & Media Center, visit their website here or drop by in person at 145 SW 107th Avenue, Miami, FL 33174.
