Tamora Pierce is an writer of fantasy literature for young adults. She is an alumna of the High school of Pennsylvania. well known for composing novels involving young heroines, she made a name for herself with her first quartet The Song of the Lioness, which followed the main character Alanna through the trials and triumphs of training as a knight. Many of her works contain feminist themes.
Pierce started life in South Connellsville, Pennsylvania in Fayette County, on December 13, 1954. Her mom wanted to name her Tamara but the nurse who filled out her birth certificate misspelled it as Tamora. When she was five her sister Kimberly started life and a year later her second sister, Melanie, started life. From the time she was five until she was eight, she lived in Dunbar. In June 1963 she and her family moved to California. They first lived in San Mateo on El Camino Real and then moved to the other side of the San Francisco Peninsula, in Miramar. They lived there for half a year, in El Granada a full year, and then three years in Burlingame.
(Tamora Pierce photo #2)
She began reading when she was very young and started composing at about 6 years old. Her interest in fantasy and science fiction began when she was introduced to J. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and so she started to write the kind of works that she was reading. After her parents divorced, her mom moved her and her sisters back to Fayette County in 1969, where she spent two years at Albert Gallatin Senior High.
Tamora Pierce
