Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce is an American fantasy author widely credited with helping establish the modern template for YA fantasy built around capable, unapologetically ambitious female protagonists, beginning with Alanna: The First Adventure in 1983. That novel introduced a girl who disguises herself as a boy to train as a knight in the medieval kingdom of Tortall, launching the Song of the Lioness quartet and, eventually, a whole interconnected 'Tortall universe' spanning multiple series across four decades. Pierce has continued expanding Tortall through The Immortals, following an animal-speaking mage; Protector of the Small, which finally lets a girl train openly (rather than in disguise) as a knight; the Circle of Magic books, set in a different corner of the same broader world and centered on four child mages with craft-based magic; and the Circle Reforged books continuing those characters into adulthood. Her fiction consistently centers girls and young women pursuing traditionally male-coded paths — knighthood, warfare, spycraft — while taking gender, consent, and power seriously as ongoing themes rather than one-off obstacles. Widely regarded as a foundational figure for the young-adult fantasy boom that followed her, Pierce remains an active, frequently rereleased author whose Tortall books continue to introduce new generations of readers to the genre.