Tamora Pierce is the author of several young adult fantasy series. They take place in a fictionary world. Some are set in Tortall. These are The Song of the Loiness quartet about Alanna of Trebond, The Immortals books about a wildmage named Daine, and the Protector of the Small quartet about Keladry of Mindelan. She has also written the Cirlce of Magic and The Circle Opens books. Her most recent book is The Will of the Empress (the Circle Reforged).
She
was born in South Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on December 13, 1954. she is a Sagittarius, and was born in the Year of the Horse. Her mother wanted her to be named "Tamara," but the nurse who filled out the birth certificate had never heard of the name and misspelled it. She legitimately became Tamora (pronounced like "camera").She actually likes Tamora better than Tamara, which means "graceful" and "a palm tree," and is the name of a Russian saint. She is the oldest child in her family and has two younger sisters, named Kimberly and Melanie. When she was 10, Tammy and her family moved to California and settled in the San Francisco area. Tamora fell in love with fantasy and science fiction after her sixth grade teacher, , introduced her to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This same teacher, along with Tammy's father, also gave her her inspiration to write. In 1969, Tammy and her mother and sisters moved back to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where she stayed until she graduated high school. After high school, Tammy recieved a full scholarship to Penn University in Philadelphia. At Penn, she studied a wide variety of subjects, including psychology, film, social work, education, French, German, and sociology. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tammy wrote a 732-page novel, intended for adults, entitled
Song of the Lioness. Sound familiar? This same book was split into four parts and released as the Song of the Lioness quartet, the first book being published in 1983. Since 1983, and especially since she began writing full-time in 1992, Tammy has written 20 books, and published three short stories. She now lives in Manhattan with her Beloved Spouse-Creature, Tim Liebe four cats, and two budgies.