About Tamora Pierce
Quick Facts:
- Tamora's name is actually pronounced like the word
"camera" - her mother had originally wanted to name her "Tamara" but a
nurse at the hospital spelled her name wrong! Oops! Tamara or Tamora,
she's still the Tammy we all know and love.
- Tammy's birthday is December 13, 1954. She was born in Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
- Tammy is the oldest of her siblings with two younger sisters, named Kimberly and Melanie (no misspellings there!).
- When she was ten, Tammy and her family moved to California and settled in the San Francisco area.
- Tammy
fell in love with fantasy and science fiction after her sixth grade
teacher introduced her to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This same
teacher, along with Tammy's father, also gave Tammy her inspiration to
write! Thank the gods!
- In 1969, Tammy and her mother and
sisters moved back to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where she stayed
until she graduated high school.
- After high school, Tammy
recieved a full scholarship to Penn University in Philadelphia (an Ivy
League school - she's one smart cookie). At Penn, she studied a wide
variety of subjects, including psychology, film, social work,
education, French, German, and sociology.
- In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tammy wrote a 732-page novel, intended for adults, entitled Song of the Lioness.
Sound familiar? This same book was split into four parts and released
as the Song of the Lioness quartet, the first book being published in
1983.
- Since 1983, and especially since she began writing
full-time in 1992, Tammy has written 20 books, and published three
short stories.
- Tammy now lives in Manhattan with her
Beloved Spouse-Creature, Tim Liebe (who is really quite cool and funny,
if you ever get a chance to meet him), four cats, and two budgies.