About Tracy Deonn
Photo by Kathleen Hampton
Tracy Deonn is the #1 New York Times bestselling and Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe award-winning author of Legendborn and its sequel Bloodmarked. A second-generation fangirl, she grew up in central North Carolina, where she devoured fantasy books and Southern food in equal measure. Tracy is a contributor in the 40th Anniversary The Empire Strikes Back anthology, From a Certain Point of View from Del Rey/Star Wars books. In addition to being a featured expert in the 2019 Star Wars fandom SyFy Channel docu-series Looking for Leia, Tracy was also a co-writer and consulting producer. Her nonfiction essay about growing up Black and geeky, Black Girl, Becoming, was published in the 2018 anthology, Our Stories, Our Voices.
Tracy is a champion for diversity and representation in science-fiction and fantasy literature and media. And when Tracy’s mother told her that the women in their family were Black Bene Gesserits, she believed her.
Tracy successfully persuaded her Master’s committee at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to allow her to write both her thesis paper and a fully-produced, award-winning play about Superman, West African myths, and secret identities. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication and performance studies from UNC, Tracy worked in live theater, video game production, and K–12 education. As an instructor, Tracy taught theater to middle and undergraduate students, and creative and academic writing at the university level. When she’s not writing, Tracy speaks on panels at science fiction and fantasy conventions, reads fanfic, arranges puppy playdates, and keeps an eye out for ginger-flavored everything.