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Leigh Bardugo

(b.1975)

Leigh Bardugo was born in Jerusalem, raised in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University. She lives in Hollywood and indulges her fondness for glamour, ghouls, and costuming in her other life as makeup artist L.B. Benson.

Genres: Young Adult Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Children's Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery

New and upcoming books

August 2026

Dead Beat
(Ninth House, book 3)

Series

Grishaverse
   0.1. The Demon in the Wood (2015)
   0.5. The Witch of Duva (2012)
   1. Shadow and Bone (2012)
     aka The Gathering Dark
   2. Siege and Storm (2013)
   2.5. The Too-Clever Fox (2013)
   2.6. Little Knife (2014)
   3. Ruin and Rising (2014)
   4. Six of Crows (2015)
   5. Crooked Kingdom (2016)
   6. King of Scars (2019)
   The Lives of Saints (2020)
   7. Rule of Wolves (2021)
   Six of Crows: A Darker Shore (2026)

Ninth House
   1. Ninth House (2019)
   2. Hell Bent (2023)
   3. Dead Beat (2026)

Novels

The Familiar (2024)

Collections

The Language of Thorns (2017)
Marple (2022) (with others)

Series contributed to

Tor.Com Original
The Witch of Duva (2012)
Little Knife (2014)

DC Icons
Wonder Woman: Warbringer (2017)

Picture Books show

Non fiction show

Books containing stories by Leigh Bardugo

Worlds Seen in Passing (2018)
Ten Years of Tor.com Short Fiction
edited by
Irene Gallo

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 (2017)
(Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, book 3)
edited by
John Joseph Adams and Charles Yu

Last Night, a Superhero Saved My Life (2016)
edited by
Liesa Mignogna

More books

Award nominations

	2025 Libby Award for Best Fantasy (runner up) : The Familiar
	2023 Short Story Dagger (shortlist) : The Disappearance
	2020 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel (nominee) : Ninth House
	2020 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel (nominee) : King of Scars: King of Scars 1
	2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (nominee) : Ninth House
	2020 Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel (nominee) : Ninth House
	2017 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel (nominee) : Crooked Kingdom: Six of Crows, 2
	2017 CrimeFest: Best Crime Fiction Novel for Young Adults (nominee) : Crooked Kingdom: Six of Crows, 2
	2016 Dragon Award for Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel (nominee) : Six of Crows: Six of Crows, 1

Leigh Bardugo recommends

The Witches of Cambridge (2026)
(Witches of Cambridge, book 1)
Alice Hoffman
"Rich with history, heartbreak and magic, Hoffman's tale of privilege and persecution expertly navigates past and present, reality and fantasy, all of it rendered in brilliant detail. Each twist of fate feels crueler than the last, and I loved watching these characters fight for every hard-won moment of love and redemption. Utterly spellbinding."

Simultaneous (2025)
Eric Heisserer
"A twisty, mind-bending thriller that will keep you guessing until the final gut punch."

The Essential Patricia A. McKillip (2025)
Patricia A McKillip
"Reading McKillip is the closest you will come to entering a waking dream."

Iron Tongue of Midnight (2025)
(Forge & Fracture Saga, book 3)
Brittany N Williams
"A fresh tale on faerie magic."

The Whispering Night (2024)
(Luminaries, book 3)
Susan Dennard
"You'll want to get lost in the world of The Luminaries again and again."

Slow Dance (2024)
Rainbow Rowell
"Deeply human, profoundly romantic. Rowell tackles the challenges of love lost and rediscovered with nuance and candor. She will break your heart and you'll thank her for it."

Long Live Evil (2024)
(Time of Iron, book 1)
Sarah Rees Brennan
"Audacious, and supremely satisfying, Long Live Evil is the chosen one we've been waiting for. It succeeds as both a brilliant meditation on the pleasures and perils of fiction, and a sweeping, romantic adventure in its own right. Get ready to laugh out loud, cry in public, and cheer on the villains as S.R. Brennan smashes through tropes with witty, wild glee in this delicious, subversive treat of a book."

When Among Crows (2024)
(Curse Bearer, book 1)
Veronica Roth
"Rich with myth and tapped into the deepest kinds of magic, Roth has created a deliciously strange, multi-layered mystery full of very human longing."

Projections (2024)
S E Porter
"Bizarre, beautiful, and richly imagined."

The Book of Love (2024)
Kelly Link
"An eldritch Our Town that somehow manages to be both epic and intimate. Link's language is nimble and startling and goes down so easy. You won't realize you're drunk on this story until it's too late and you're careening from the spectacularly weird to the wildly funny to an aching grief almost too familiar to bear. A dizzying dream ride you will never forget."

Sword Catcher (2023)
(Chronicles of Castellane, book 1)
Cassandra Clare
"Clare plunges us into a thrilling world built with precision and brimming with enchantment. Her spellbinding cast of outlaws, healers, royals, and rogues will have you questioning your allegiances with every delicious turn of the plot. This is fantasy at its finest."

The Library of Broken Worlds (2023)
Alaya Dawn Johnson
"Mysterious, sweeping, wholly original, and anchored by an extraordinary heroine as wily as she is vulnerable. Johnson has crafted a story so immersive it will leave you drunk with visions of strange worlds and new gods, so compelling you'll be happy to drown in this dizzying, bloody brew of technology, lore, and world-shaking conflict."

Silver in the Bone (2023)
(Silver in the Bone, book 1)
Alexandra Bracken
"Simmering with magic, peril, romance, and heartbreak. Bracken's stories plunge you into a world of legend and longing you will never want to leave."

Stars and Smoke (2023)
(Stars and Smoke, book 1)
Marie Lu
"Sexy, funny, action-packed, full of killer characters ready to break your heart and look good doing it. Marie Lu always delivers."

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (2023)
(Left-Handed Booksellers of London, book 2)
Garth Nix
"Garth Nix stes the standard for fantasy."

Book of Night (2022)
(Book of Night, book 1)
Holly Black
"Dark, strange, thick with mystery and twists - Book of Night is everything delicious and frightening I've come to expect from Holly Black. It's a story so believable in its magic, you'll be keeping one eye on your shadow as you turn the pages."

Ballad & Dagger (2022)
(Outlaw Saints, book 1)
Daniel José Older
"Brimming with mystery, mayhem, and heart, Ballad Dagger gives us wondrous new magic steeped in deep traditions. It's a gorgeous romance, a wild adventure, and a powerful story that unravels not only the pain of diaspora, but the strength of community, and the ways we provide refuge for one another."

Goliath (2022)
Tochi Onyebuchi
"Onyebuchi sets fire to the boundary between fiction and reality...Riveting, disturbing and rendered in masterful detail."

Deathcaster (2019)
(Shattered Realms , book 4)
Cinda Williams Chima
"Cinda Williams Chima's worlds bristle with magic, romance, and intrigue."

Tempests and Slaughter (2018)
(Numair Chronicles, book 1)
Tamora Pierce
"Tamora Pierce didn't just blaze a trail. Her heroines cut a swath through the fantasy world with wit, strength, and savvy. Her stories still lead the vanguard today. Pierce is the real lioness, and we're all just running to keep pace."

Vassa in the Night (2016)
Sarah Porter
"A dark, thoroughly modern fairy tale cracking with cracking with wit and magical mayhem."

Strange the Dreamer (2016)
(Strange the Dreamer, book 1)
Laini Taylor
"Laini Taylor is so damn good and like no other."

Heroine Complex (2016)
(Heroine Complex, book 1)
Sarah Kuhn
"Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complex is a delight."

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