Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo was born in 1975 in Jerusalem

Bardugo was born in Jerusalem to Judy and Avi Bardugo. Her mother taught English at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her father was a social activist with a law degree. As a child she moved to Los Angeles, where her grandparents raised her.

She earned a degree in English from Yale University in 1997. Before her first novel, she worked in copywriting, journalism, and makeup and special effects. From 2006 to 2007 she sang in the band Captain Automatic.

Her debut novel, Shadow and Bone, came out from Macmillan in 2012 and opened the Grisha trilogy, completed in 2013 and 2014. The Six of Crows duology followed in 2015 and 2016, set in the same world. In 2017 she published The Language of Thorns and Wonder Woman: Warbringer.

Her first adult novel, Ninth House, appeared in 2019 and began the Alex Stern series, followed by Hell Bent in 2023. The Familiar, a historical fantasy set in Spain, came out in 2024. Her books have been translated into 22 languages.

Netflix adapted her Grisha books into the series Shadow and Bone, and Amazon Studios plans to adapt Ninth House. She is an executive producer of both. She has osteonecrosis and sometimes uses a cane.