In honor of International Women’s Day and World Book Day, I’m keeping today’s post simple: a list of recommendations, as of this day in 2019, of my favorite SFF authors who happen to be women and my favorites among their works. This list will, of course, change over time as I discover new books and authors.

Juliet Marillier: Daughter of the Forest; Son of the Shadows; Child of the Prophecy; Wolfskin; Heart’s Blood; Dreamer’s Pool; Tower of Thorns; Den of Wolves

Octavia Butler: The Parable of the Sower; Wild Seed; Kindred.

Sharon Shinn: Mystic and Rider, The Thirteenth House, Reader and Raelynx, Fortune and Fate, Jovah’s Angel; Troubled Waters.

Kate Forsyth: Bitter Greens; The Wild Girl (historical fiction rather than fantasy); The Witches of Eileanan; The Pool of Two Moons; The Tower of Ravens.

Kate Elliott: Black Wolves; Cold Magic; Cold Fire; Cold Steel.

Patricia McKillip: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld; Alphabet of Thorn; The Bards of Bone Plain; Moon-Flash; The Sorceress and the Cygnet; The Cygnet and the Firebird; Ombria in Shadow; Winter Rose.

Barbara Hambly: The Ladies of Mandrigyn; The Witches of Wenshar; Stranger at the Wedding; Bride of the Rat God.

Nnedi Okorafor: Who Fears Death; Akata Witch.

N.K. Jemisin: The Shadowed Sun; The Fifth Season; The Obelisk Gate; The Stone Sky.

Naomi Novik: Uprooted; Spinning Silver.

Lois McMaster Bujold: The Curse of Chalion; Paladin of Souls.

Karen Lord: Redemption in Indigo.

Mercedes Lackey: Phoenix and Ashes; The Fire Rose; The Serpent’s Shadow; The Fairy Godmother; Winds of Fate; Winds of Change; Winds of Fury.

Joan D. Vinge: The Snow Queen; The Summer Queen.

Elizabeth Bear: Range of Ghosts; Shattered Pillars; Steles of the Sky.

Robin Hobb: Ship of Magic; Mad Ship; Ship of Destiny; Dragon Keeper; Dragon Haven.

Violette Malan: The Sleeping God; The Soldier King; The Storm Witch; Path of the Sun.

Martha Wells: The Cloud Roads; The Serpent Sea; The Siren Depths; The Wizard Hunters.

Holly Lisle: Fire in the Mist; Bones of the Past; Mind of the Magic.

Jo Walton: The King’s Peace; Among Others.

Vonda McIntyre: Dreamsnake.