Anne McCaffrey was born on April 1, 1926 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She attended Radcliffe College, where she studied Slavonic Languages and Literatures and graduated cum laude.
After her graduation, McCaffrey worked as an actress, and became interested in directing and opera. Upon her marriage in 1950, Anne McCaffrey stopped working in theater and began writing short stories, the first of which was published in 1953.
Oddly enough, the name of Anne McCaffrey's husband is unavailable in any sources I could find, and all three of her children, Alec, Todd, and Georgeanne, use her last name.
McCaffrey's first book, Restoree was published in 1967 and was intended as protest against the absurd portrayal of women in early science fiction and fantasy. In 1968, her first Pern book, Dragonflight was published and became an immediate success.
In 1970, after her divorce, Anne McCaffrey and her children moved to Ireland, where she resides to this day. Her home is named Dragonhold Underhill, and she raises and breeds horses.
The bibliographies listed above seem complete, so I won't bother to list them again.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Anne McCaffrey's work, in my opinion, is that she is a woman author whose novels are popular among both men and women. Sadly, I've seen too many wonderful science ficion and fantasy writers marginalized as writing "only for women" because they themselves are women (Melanie Rawn, Marion Zimmer Bradley), whereas men (Robert Jordan, Orson Scott Card) are viewed as capable of writing for a broad audience. Anne McCaffrey has been successful in crossing this line, and I would recommend her books, especially the Dragonriders of Pern to anyone.
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