Tamora Pierce was born in South Connellsville, Pennsylvania and her parents were originally going to call her Tamara, but the nurse who filled out her birth certificate had never heard of that name before and accidentally misspelled it. However, Tamora likes her name and in case you're wondering how to pronounce it, it sounds just like camera. She was a passionate reader from an early age, devouring encyclopaedias, Dr Seuss books and J.R.R. Tolkien. Writing helped Tamora get through her parents' divorce and in her junior year at college she sold her first story and went on to publish The Song of the Lioness, originally with adult readers in mind, but found success when she turned it into a quartet for teenagers. The rest, as they say, is history! Tamora lives in New York with her husband.
