Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo (born April 6, 1975, in Jerusalem, Israel) is an Israeli-American fantasy author best known for her Grishaverse novels and the adult thriller Ninth House. Raised by her grandparents in Los Angeles, she attended Yale University, graduating in 1997 with a degree in English. Before publishing her first novel, she worked in copywriting, journalism, and makeup and special effects. Bardugo debuted with Shadow and Bone in 2012, the first book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy set in the Grishaverse—a fantasy world inspired by tsarist-era Russia. The trilogy was followed by the Six of Crows duology (2015–2016) and the King of Scars duology (2019–2021), all set in the same universe. Both the Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows series were adapted into a Netflix original series in 2021, with Bardugo as executive producer. Her books have been translated into 22 languages and published in more than 50 countries. In 2019 she published Ninth House, her first adult novel, a dark fantasy thriller set at Yale University involving secret societies and necromancy. It won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy Novel and the American Library Association's Alex Award. The sequel, Hell Bent (2023), also won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy Novel. In 2024 she published The Familiar, a historical fantasy set in the Spanish Golden Age. Bardugo is considered one of the most influential authors in contemporary young adult and adult fantasy fiction.