Author. Born Anne Inez McCaffrey to Colonel George McCaffrey and Anne Dorothy McElroy at Cambridge, Massachusets. She attended Radcliffe College with a major in Slavonic Languages and Literature and was graduated cum laude in 1947. She married in 1950 and had her first two short stories published shortly thereafter. Her first novel, "Restoree" published in 1967, was her response to the usual portrayal of women in science fiction. The following year, she became the first woman to win a Hugo award for fiction for her novella "Weyr Search," which was later incorporated into her Dragonriders of Pern series of novels, perhaps her most celebrated works. In 1969 she gained another first with a Nebula award for the novella "Dragonriders," which would also be incorporated into the Pern series. The first of her Ship series of novels, "The Ship Who Sang" was also published in 1969, it was the only one of that series she wrote without a co-author. In 1970, after filing for divorce, she emigrated to Ireland which had enacted legislation exempting resident artists from income taxes. Further works included the "Dinosaur Planet" duology, "To Ride Pegasus" of the Talent series in 1973; the "Crystal Singer" trilogy, the first of which was published in 1982; The Tower and Hive series beginning with "The Rowan" in 1990, and the Acorna series beginning "Acorna: The Unicorn Girl" in 1997. Her most prolific series, however, were the Pern novels which included more than twenty titles. Her son Todd, coauthored five later Pern novels and wrote three others on his own. In 1999 she was awarded the Margaret A Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. The Science Fiction Writers of America named her the 22nd Grand Master in 2005, and she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006. Her biography, "Anne McCaffrey: A Life With Dragons," by Robin Roberts, was published in 2007. In her last decade, she suffered from some health issues that necessitated canceling personal appearances at conventions. She succumbed suddenly to a stroke at 85 in her self-designed home "Dragonhold-Underhill" south of Dublin.