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Leigh Bardugo (; born April 6, 1975) is an American fantasy author. She is best known for her young adult Grishaverse novels, which include the Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows and King of Scars duologies. She also received acclaim for her paranormal fantasy adult debut, Ninth House. The Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows series have been adapted into Shadow and Bone by Netflix, and Ninth House will be adapted by Amazon Studios; Bardugo is an executive producer on both works.
She attended Yale University, graduating with a degree in English in the spring of 1997. She was a member of the Wolf's Head secret society. Before publishing her first novel, she worked in copywriting and journalism, as well as makeup and special effects.
The Six of Crows duology ( Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom) was published by Macmillan in 2015 and 2016. It is set in the same universe as the Grisha trilogy (sometimes collectively called the "Grishaverse"). Six of Crows was named a New York Times Notable Book and an ALA-YALSA Top Ten Pick of 2016. The Language of Thorns, a collection of Grisha fairy tales and folk tales, was published by Macmillan in 2017.
Bardugo then wrote the first book in the DC Icons series, which are novelizations of DC Comics' biggest superheroes; her novel, Wonder Woman: Warbringer, was published by Penguin Random House in 2017.
In 2019, Bardugo's first adult novel, Ninth House, was published by Flatiron Books. It won the 2019 Goodreads Choice Award for best fantasy novel. In January 2023, she published the sequel to Ninth House, Hell Bent.
Bardugo also has essays and short stories in anthology collections such as Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life, Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, and Summer Days and Summer Nights. Her books have been translated into 22 languages and published in over 50 countries.
Bardugo appeared on a Grishaverse panel alongside showrunner Heisserer at New York Comic Con in October 2020. She was ranked the sixth most popular author between 2016 and 2021 on Goodreads.
In 2023, she reached a multi-book deal with Macmillan Publishers. She signed with WME agency. She picketed for the Writers Guild of America.
In April 2024, Bardugo's novel The Familiar was published by Flatiron Books. The Familiar is a historical fantasy set in Spain during the Spanish Golden Age.
In October 2019, Amazon Studios announced that it would adapt Ninth House. Bardugo is set to executive produce the project alongside Pouya Shahbazian.
Bardugo was a singer in the band Captain Automatic from 2006 to 2007. In 2022, she eloped with her partner of four years.
Bardugo does not practice Judaism but identifies as a Jew.
Comics
Essays
"The Witch of Duva", "The Too-Clever Fox", and "Little Knife" were later released as a set called Folktales from Ravka in 2015. 2017's The Language of Thorns collected all the short stories except "The Tailor" and "The Demon in the Wood".
| 2020 | Audie Award | Ninth House | Best Fantasy | ||
| 2016 | Dragon Awards | Six of Crows | Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel | ||
| 2020 | Ninth House | Fantasy Novel | |||
| 2018 | German Fantasy Awards | Six of Crows | Best International Novel | ||
| 2012 | Goodreads Choice Awards | Shadow and Bone | Best Young Adult Fantasy and Science Fiction | ||
| 2013 | Siege and Storm | ||||
| 2014 | Ruin and Rising | ||||
| 2015 | Six of Crows | ||||
| 2016 | Crooked Kingdom | ||||
| 2017 | The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic | ||||
| 2019 | King of Scars | ||||
| Ninth House | Best Fantasy | ||||
| 2021 | Rule of Wolves | Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| 2019 | Inkpot Award | Leigh Bardugo | |||
| 2017 | Locus Award | Crooked Kingdom | Best Young Adult Book | ||
| 2020 | King of Scars | ||||
| Ninth House | Best Fantasy Novel | ||||
| + Year-end lists | |||||
| 2019 | Amazon | Ninth House | Amazon's Best Books of 2019 List | 18 | |
| 2019 | Book Riot | Ninth House | The best books of 2019 | ||
| 2021 | Rule of Wolves | Top Books of 2021 | |||
| 2015 | Bustle | Six of Crows | The 25 Best YA Books Of 2015 | 16 | |
| 2016 | Crooked Kingdom | The 30 Best YA Books Of 2016 | |||
| 2013 | BuzzFeed | Siege and Storm | The 21 Best YA Books Of 2013 | 14 | |
| 2014 | Ruin and Rising | The 17 Best YA Books Of 2014 | 7 | ||
| 2015 | Six of Crows | 16 Of The Best YA Books Of 2015 | 7 | ||
| 2015 | Six of Crows | The 32 Best Fantasy Books Of 2015 | 8 | ||
| 2019 | King of Scars | 31 Young Adult Books That We Deemed The Best Of 2019 | 2 | ||
| 2016 | Entertainment Weekly | Crooked Kingdom | YA Books of 2016 | 6 | |
| 2014 | The Guardian | Ruin and Rising | What are the best children's books of 2014? | ||
| 2015 | The Independent | Six of Crows | 10 best fantasy novels | 3 | |
| 2016 | The Irish Times | Six of Crows | Our favourite children's and YA books of 2016 | ||
| 2021 | Kobo eReader | Rule of Wolves | Our top 20 Kids & Young Adult picks of 2021 | ||
| 2015 | New York Times | Six of Crows | Notable Children's Books of 2015 | ||
| 2019 | NPR | Ninth House | NPR's Favorite Books of 2019 | ||
| 2019 | Parade | Ninth House | The 25 Best Books of 2019 | ||
| 2015 | Paste | Six of Crows | The 30 Best Young Adult Books of 2015 | 25 | |
| 2016 | Crooked Kingdom | The Best Books of 2016: Young Adult | 23 | ||
| 2019 | Ninth House | The 19 Best Novels of 2019 | 9 | ||
| 2019 | Ninth House | The Top 19 Best Audiobooks of 2019 | |||
| 2015 | PopSugar | Six of Crows | The Best YA Books of 2015 | 3 | |
| 2016 | Crooked Kingdom | The Best YA Books of 2016 | 21 | ||
| 2017 | Seventeen | Wonder Woman | 28 of the Best YA Books of 2017 | 24 | |
| 2019 | ShortList | Six of Crows | Best Young Adult books: great YA books to read today | 3 | |
| 2019 | Time | Ninth House | The 100 Must Read Books of 2019 | ||
| 2019 | Tor | Ninth House | The Best Books of 2019 | ||
| 2021 | Rule of Wolves | The Best Books of 2021 | |||
| 2019 | USA Today | Ninth House | Best books of 2019 | ||
| 2019 | Vox Media | Ninth House | Best of 2019: the 15 best books we read this year | ||
| 2015 | The Wall Street Journal | Six of Crows | Best of the Best-of Lists: Best Young Adult | ||
| 2021 | Wired | Six of Crows | 36 of the best fantasy books everyone should read | ||
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