Kristin Cashore

Kristin Cashore (born 1976) is an American author of young-adult fantasy, raised in rural Pennsylvania. She holds a bachelor's degree from Williams College and a master's in children's literature from Simmons College, and worked as an editorial assistant before publishing fiction; she writes her novels by hand. She is best known for the Graceling Realm series, which began with her debut novel Graceling (2008), following a young woman with a dangerous, uncontrollable fighting ability in a world where some people are born with extreme, defining talents called Graces; the book was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award. The series continued with Fire and Bitterblue and later Winterkeep and Seasparrow, and has sold more than 1.5 million copies in 33 languages. Her other work includes the standalone novel Jane, Unlimited and the novel There Is a Door in This Darkness.