Happy birthday, Patricia Wrede (March 27, 1953–)! Best known for her fantasy YA and children’s books, Wrede says she doesn’t write for children; she writes for herself. Wrede is an advocate for writing what you love. She writes fantasy. She writes about dragons. Why change what you love? As she explains: “I loved getting my M. B. A., and I really enjoyed being an accountant and financial analyst before I quit my day job twenty-five years ago to write full time. I just liked writing more…plus, I knew even then that as a full-time writer, I’d get plenty of chances to do business-type stuff, while as an accountant, I probably wouldn’t get a lot of opportunities to write about dragons.”
Her initial writing goal was to publish a short story, but that short story became a novel and that novel sold. By her fifth novel she could support herself as a full-time writer. Today, we celebrate a female fantasy writer whose best advice to emerging writers is pretty simple: “write every day, whether you feel like it or not”.
But most of all, always choose dragons.
A full list of her novels can be found below.
Books
Lyra Series * These books can be read in any order, but this is the order Wrede recommends
Caught in Crystal (1987)
The Raven Ring (1994)
Shadow Magic (1982)
Daughter of Witches (1983)
The Harp of Imach Thyssel (1985) *updated in 1995 to create greater continuity
The Enchanted Forest Series
Dealing with Dragons (1990)
Searching for Dragons (1991)
Calling on Dragons (1993)
Talking to Dragons (1985)
Kate & Cecelia Series (with Caroline Stevermer)
Sorcery and Cecelia (1988)
The Grand Tour (2004)
The Mislaid Magician (2006)
Mairelon the Magician Series
Mairelon the Magician (1991)
The Magician’s Ward (1997)
A Matter of Magic (2010 – omnibus edition)
Frontier Magic
Thirteenth Child (2009)
Across the Great Barrier (2011)
The Far West (2012)
Other Novels
The Seven Towers (1984)
Snow White and Rose Red (1989)
The Book of Enchantments (1996)
Middle-School Novelizations
Star Wars, Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
Star Wars, Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars, Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)