Holly Black

6 universes Last reviewed 2026-09-28

Holly Black is an American author of children's, young adult, and adult fantasy fiction, born November 10, 1971, in West Long Branch, New Jersey. She grew up in what she has described as a decrepit Victorian house and graduated from Shore Regional High School in 1990. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from The College of New Jersey in 1994 and studied at Rutgers University, where she worked as a production editor on medical journals. Black married illustrator and web designer Theo Black, her high school sweetheart, in 1999, and has lived in Amherst, Massachusetts. Since 2000, she has become one of fantasy's most prolific and celebrated authors, co-creating The Spiderwick Chronicles with illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi (2003–2004), writing the Modern Faerie Tales trilogy (2002–2007), the Curse Workers trilogy (2010–2012), the Folk of the Air series beginning with The Cruel Prince (2017), and her adult fantasy debut, Book of Night (2022). Her honors include a Newbery Honor for Doll Bones and the inaugural Andre Norton Award for Valiant, plus a Dragon Award and multiple Lodestar and Locus Award nominations, establishing her as a defining voice in modern faerie-inflected fantasy.

Universe(s)

Books

• Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale (2002) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• Lucinda's Secret (2003) · The Spiderwick Chronicles Core Canon
• The Field Guide (2003) · The Spiderwick Chronicles Core Canon
• The Seeing Stone (2003) · The Spiderwick Chronicles Core Canon
• The Ironwood Tree (2004) · The Spiderwick Chronicles Core Canon
• The Wrath of Mulgarath (2004) · The Spiderwick Chronicles Core Canon
• Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie (2005) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale (2007) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• The Nixie's Song (2007) · The Spiderwick Chronicles Expanded Canon
• A Giant Problem (2008) · The Spiderwick Chronicles Expanded Canon
• The Wyrm King (2009) · The Spiderwick Chronicles Expanded Canon
• White Cat (2010) · The Curse Workers Core Canon
• Red Glove (2011) · The Curse Workers Core Canon
• Black Heart (2012) · The Curse Workers Core Canon
• Doll Bones (2013) · Doll Bones Core Canon
• The Iron Trial (2014) · Magisterium Core Canon
• The Copper Gauntlet (2015) · Magisterium Core Canon
• The Darkest Part of the Forest (2015) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• The Bronze Key (2016) · Magisterium Core Canon
• The Silver Mask (2017) · Magisterium Core Canon
• The Cruel Prince (2018) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• The Golden Tower (2018) · Magisterium Core Canon
• The Wicked King (2019) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (2020) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Expanded Canon
• The Queen of Nothing (2020) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• Book of Night (2022) · The Charlatan Duology Core Canon
• The Stolen Heir (2023) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• The Prisoner's Throne (2024) · The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales Core Canon
• Thief of Night (2025) · The Charlatan Duology Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 25 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 4 (2 won, 1 nomination, 1 honor mention)

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