Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011)

SFWA Grand Master Anne McCaffrey, 85, died November 21, 2011 of a massive stroke at home in Ireland.

McCaffrey is best known for her long-running Pern series of SF novels and stories. She was the first woman to win both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards, with “Weyr Search” (1968) and “Dragonrider” (1969) respectively. Pern novel The White Dragon (1978) was the first hardcover SF novel to make the New York Times bestseller list. Many of the later books in the Pern series were written in collaboration with McCaffrey’s son Todd. In all she authored or co-wrote more than 100 titles, beginning with first novel Restoree (1967).

Her other works include the Freedom series, the Doona series (with Jody Lynn Nye), the Dinosaur Planet series (with Jody Lynn Nye and Elizabeth Moon), the Crystal Singer series, the Brain & Brawn Ship series (with Margaret Ball, Mercedes Lackey, S.M. Stirling, and Jody Lynn Nye), the Petaybee series (with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough), the Talent series, the Tower & Hive series, the Acorna series (with Margaret Ball, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, and various other authors), and the Coelura series.

Anne Inez McCaffrey was born April 1, 1926 in Cambridge MA. She attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1947, and worked as an advertising copywriter while directing and performing in stage productions. She married H. Wright Johnson in 1950, and had three children. She divorced Johnson in 1970, and moved to Ireland, where she opened a stable and began raising horses.

Her many honors include being named a SFWA Grand Master (2005); induction into the SF Hall of Fame (2006); and a Robert A. Heinlein Award (2007).

See the January issue of Locus for a complete obituary and appreciations.