Nerilka's Story

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born on April 1, Anne McCaffrey has tried to live up to such an auspicious natal day.Her first novel was created in Latin class and might have brought her instant fame, as well as an A, had she attempted to write in the language.Much chastened, she turned to the stage and became a character actress, appearing in the first successful summer music circus at Lambertsville, New Jersey.She studied voice for nine years and, during that time, became intensely interested in the stage direction of opera and operetta, ending this phase of her life with the stage direction of the American premiere of Carl Orff’s Ludus De Nato Infante Mirificus, in which she also played a witch.

By the time the three children of her marriage were comfortably at school most of the day, she had already achieved enough success with short stories to devote full time to writing.

Between her frequent appearances in the United States and in England as a lecturer and guest of honor at SF conventions, Ms. McCaffrey lives at Dragonhold, in the hills of Wicklow County, Ireland, with two of her children, her gray horse Mr. Ed, four cats and a dog. Of herself, Ms. McCaffrey says, “I have green eyes, silver hair, and freckles; the rest changes without notice.”