Leigh Bardugo


Leigh Bardugo 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.

Early life

Bardugo was born in Jerusalem, on April 6, 1975, and grew up in Los Angeles, California, where she was raised by her grandparents. She is Jewish, descended from Spanish Jews on one side, and Russian and Lithuanian Jews on the other.
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.

Career

Bardugo's debut novel, Shadow and Bone, the first book in the Grisha trilogy, was published in 2012 by Macmillan. Shadow and Bone was nominated for the Romantic Times Book Award and the South Carolina Children's Book Award, named an Indie Next List Book, and reviewed in The New York Times. The novel hit #8 on The New York Times Best Seller list, and was optioned for film by David Heyman and DreamWorks. The other books in the trilogy, Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising, were published by Macmillan in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Bardugo defines Shadow and Bone genre as Tsarpunk—fantasy with inspiration from early-19th-century Russia.
The Six of Crows duology was published by Macmillan in 2015 and 2016. It is set in the same universe as the Grisha trilogy. 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.

Adaptations

In September 2012, DreamWorks acquired the movie rights to Shadow and Bone with David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford producing, but the project was not realized. In January 2019, Netflix ordered an eight-episode series based on the Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows book series. Bardugo made a cameo appearance in episode three of Shadow and Bone.
In October 2019, Amazon Studios announced that it would adapt Ninth House. Bardugo is set to executive produce the project alongside Pouya Shahbazian.

Personal life

In the acknowledgments section of Six of Crows, Bardugo reveals she has osteonecrosis and sometimes needs to use a cane; this was a source of inspiration for one of the story's six protagonists, master thief and gang boss Kaz Brekker, who uses a cane.
Bardugo was a singer in the band Captain Automatic from 2006 to 2007. In 2022, she eloped with her partner of four years.
Bardugo is a secular Jew.

The Grishaverse

''Shadow and Bone'' trilogy

  • Shadow and Bone
  • Siege and Storm
  • ''Ruin and Rising''

    ''Six of Crows'' duology

  • Six of Crows
  • ''Crooked Kingdom''

    ''King of Scars'' duology

  • King of Scars
  • ''Rule of Wolves''

    Companion books

  • The Language of Thorns
  • The Lives of Saints
  • Demon in the Wood
  • ''A Darker Shore: Letters from Ketterdam''

    Other titles

Alex Stern series
  • Ninth House
  • Hell Bent
  • Dead Beat
Standalones
  • Wonder Woman: Warbringer
  • The Familiar
  • The Invisible Parade
Comics
  • Wonder Woman: Warbringer
Essays
  • "We Are Not Amazons" from Last Night a Superhero Saved My Life anthology
Short stories
  • "The Witch of Duva"
  • "The Tailor"
  • "The Too-Clever Fox"
  • "Little Knife"
  • "The Demon in the Wood: A Darkling Prequel Story"
  • "Verse Chorus Verse" in Slasher Girls & Monster Boys, edited by April Genevieve Tucholke
  • "Head, Scales, Tongue, and Tail" in Summer Days and Summer Nights, edited by Stephanie Perkins
  • "Ayama and the Thorn Wood"
  • "The Soldier Prince"
  • "When Water Sang Fire"
"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".

Critical studies and reviews of Bardugo's work

;Ninth House

  • Awards and nominations

The awards Bardugo has received are as follows:
YearAwardNominee/WorkCategoryResultRef
2020Audie AwardNinth HouseBest FantasyNomitated
2016Dragon AwardsSix of CrowsBest Young Adult / Middle Grade NovelNomitated
2020Dragon AwardsNinth HouseFantasy NovelNomitated
2018German Fantasy AwardsSix of CrowsBest International NovelWon
2012Goodreads Choice AwardsShadow and BoneBest Young Adult Fantasy and Science FictionNomitated
2013Goodreads Choice AwardsSiege and StormBest Young Adult Fantasy and Science FictionNomitated
2014Goodreads Choice AwardsRuin and RisingBest Young Adult Fantasy and Science FictionNomitated
2015Goodreads Choice AwardsSix of CrowsBest Young Adult Fantasy and Science FictionNomitated
2016Goodreads Choice AwardsCrooked KingdomBest Young Adult Fantasy and Science FictionNomitated
2017Goodreads Choice AwardsThe Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous MagicBest Young Adult Fantasy and Science FictionNomitated
2019Goodreads Choice AwardsKing of ScarsBest Young Adult Fantasy and Science FictionNomitated
2019Goodreads Choice AwardsNinth HouseBest FantasyWon
2021Goodreads Choice AwardsRule of WolvesBest Young Adult Fantasy & Science FictionWon
2019Inkpot AwardLeigh BardugoWon
2017Locus AwardCrooked KingdomBest Young Adult BookNomitated
2020Locus AwardKing of ScarsBest Young Adult BookNomitated
2020Locus AwardNinth HouseBest Fantasy NovelNomitated

Accolades

YearPublicationWorkCategoryResultRef
2019Comic YearsShadow and Bone SeriesThe Top 10 Fantasy Series Published In The Past Decade8
2019PasteSix of CrowsThe 30 Best Fantasy Novels of the 2010s14
2019PasteSix of CrowsThe 30 Best Young Adult Novels of the 2010s18

YearPublicationWorkCategoryResultRef
2018PasteCrooked KingdomThe 50 Best Fantasy Books of the 21st Century 38
2018PasteSix of CrowsThe 50 Best Fantasy Books of the 21st Century 15
2020PolygonWonder Woman: WarbringerThe greatest Wonder Woman comics of all time
2020TimeSix of Crows100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time