McCaffrey, Anne, 1926-2011

American author, fantasy and science fiction short story writer and novelist.

Biography

On April 1, 1926, Anne Inez McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to George Herbert McCaffrey and Anne Dorothy McElroy McCaffrey. Her father was a United States Army Colonel and her mother worked as an advertising copywriter in Boston. In 1947, McCaffrey graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College, majoring in Slavonic Languages and Literatures. Her unpublished honors thesis was titled Eugene Ivanovich Zamiatin, with Special Emphasis on His Utopian novel, We . A copy of the thesis is in the manuscript division of the George Arents Library in Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. In 1948 McCaffrey worked in New York City as a copywriter and layout artist for the Liberty Music Shops. There she wrote advertisements based on lines from Bartlett's Famous Quotations . She also worked as the Secretary to the Sales Manager of Helena Rubenstein, Inc.

During the late forties McCaffrey was also involved in St. John Terrill's first musical circus in Lambertsville, New Jersey. In 1958, the family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where she joined the Brecks Mill Cronies and studied voice under Ted Huang, the Choir Master. In 1963 the family moved to Düsseldorf, Germany, where McCaffrey studied voice under Ron Stewart. As final act of her theater career McCaffrey directed the American premiere of Carl Orff's Ludus de Nato Infante Mirificus, in which she also played a witch. Concurrently with her involvement in theater, McCaffrey wrote and published a number of science fiction short stories. Her first story Freedom of the Race was published in October 1953. In 1963, Virginia Kidd became McCaffrey's literary agent. Encouraged by the science fiction writer Robert Silverberg, McCaffrey decided to become a full-time writer in 1965 and has gone on to have an illustrious career as an author spanning more than forty years.

Anne McCaffrey was born April 1, 1926, in Cambridge, Mass. Although some of her science fiction/fantasy novels are considered to be for young adults, McCaffrey is best known as an author of science fiction for adults, for which she has won many awards, including a Hugo, a Nebula, and a Gandalf. She has authored and co-authored many series in the sci-fi field, including the Dragonriders of Pern series.

Biographical Sources: Something About the Author, vols. 8, 70, 116; Something About the Author Autobiographical Series, vol. 11; Children's Literature Review, vol. 49

Anne McCaffrey was born April 1, 1926 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received a B. A. from Radcliffe. Her writing career started in 1953. She is best known for her Dragonrider series, but has been a prolific and successful writer in both science fiction and other genres. In particular, her early treatment of cyborgs bears mention.