Writing Wednesday - Andre Norton

I want to introduce you to another of my favorite authors - Andre Norton. Andre Norton was a science fiction and fantasy writer who wrote starting in the 1940's up to her death in 2005. She was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy, first to be SFWA Grand Master, and first inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Andre Norton was born Alice Mary Norton. She was born in 1912. She went to school to become a teacher but when the Depression hit she went to work for a library. She started writing at this time, publishing a few short stories under the name of Andrew North. In 1934 she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton to make it easier to sell her stories, because the name was more masculine and the target audience at that time for fantasy and science fiction was boys.

Norton's longest running series was her Witch World series. 31 books and several short stories spanning almost four decades. It is the series she is best known for, though she had several other books and short stories published.

Andre Norton was a prolific writer, even when her poor health began to impact her ability to write. She kept up with writing projects up until close to the day she died. Her final project was a sequel to a Dungeons and Dragons book she'd written back in the '60's. It was finished by her co-author and published in 2006.

I've read most of the Witch World books, and several of her other stories. I grew up reading Andre Norton's books, as they were among the more popular books in my parents' library. Her and Anne McCaffrey made up a lot of my early reading adventures. If you've never read any of her books, check them out.