Diane Duane

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-21

Diane Duane was born May 18, 1952, in New York City and grew up in Roosevelt, Long Island. She trained as a nurse and worked for two years as a psychiatric nurse until 1976, when she moved to California and became an assistant to science fiction writer David Gerrold, whose mentorship helped launch her writing career; her debut novel appeared through Dell Books in 1979. She is best known for the long-running Young Wizards young-adult fantasy series, begun in 1983, which follows teenage wizards battling entropy across parallel worlds, and for the high fantasy Tale of the Five series and the Feline Wizards spin-off books. Duane has also written extensively for Star Trek, including the Rihannsu novels developing Romulan culture, as well as a Spider-Man trilogy. Her television writing credits span decades of animation work for Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, and Sunbow Productions, along with scripts for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, and Barbie: Fairytopia, plus video game screenplays and comic scripts. She married Northern Irish author Peter Morwood in 1987, and the couple settled in Grangecon, County Wicklow, Ireland; Morwood died in 2025. Duane has received John W. Campbell and Mythopoeic Award nominations and won the 2014 Faust Award for Lifetime Achievement from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers.

Universe(s)

Books

• So You Want to Be a Wizard (1983) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• Deep Wizardry (1985) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• High Wizardry (1990) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• A Wizard Abroad (1993) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• The Wizard's Dilemma (2001) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• A Wizard Alone (2002) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• Wizard's Holiday (2003) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• Wizards at War (2005) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• A Wizard of Mars (2010) · Young Wizards Core Canon
• Games Wizards Play (2016) · Young Wizards Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 10 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

← All authors