It is with great sadness that Del Rey Books and Random House report the passing of beloved author Anne McCaffrey. Anne McCaffrey was best known for her award-winning and immensely popular Dragonriders of Pern® novels. McCaffrey died at her home in Ireland on November 21st shortly after suffering a stroke. She was 85 years old. She is survived by her two sons and daughter. We will provide more information as we receive it from Anne’s family.
Very sad news. My condolences to Anne’s family
The Dragonrider and Harper series were a big part of why I became a life-long fantasy and science fiction reader. Rest in peace, Anne, and thank you.
Anne touched my entire family and was passed from mother to daughter and now granddaughters. I am crying over a woman who touched 3 generations and will continue to touch more. We love you Anne and know that your legacy will live on within my family and many others. You will be missed……
the keening of all dragons follow you into the mists
It is because of her that I love to read. Her books became a huge part of my childhood. Places that I could escape to. Thank you so much for that Anne. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and all of those whose lives she has touched.
My thoughts and prayers are with her family and all of the fans. Her books are among my top favorites.
Anne was one of three people who helped me choose to become a fiction writer. Pern still haunts my dreams after so many years, and like Robinton she may be missed but will never be forgotten. Sleep sweet Masterharper.
I’m saddend by the loss of Ms McCaffrey. She was a great and wonderful talent in the world of fantasy. She has touched and inspired my family. From my mother, her sister and brother, to me and my brothers and their children. I know the world she created will live on and grow in capable hands and that would make her happy. Thank you to her for the hours of pleasure her words brought us all. Prayers and thoughts are with her family. Safe journey between.
Annie was kind to me early on — she was a great friend to so many emerging writers over the years. Her encouragement meant a lot back then, and her friendship even more as the years went on. She will be sorely missed.
She was a lovely lady and I will always remember the days she used to come and talk to us in the KTL chatroom. She is responsible for my love of reading and writing. Before discovering her dragonrider books I didn’t like reading. It was all downhill from there! RIP Dragon Lady, you will be missed by so many.
My condolences to all who knew her. McCaffrey really changed the game, and a huge influence not just on SF/F but on culture overall. She was truly a giant.
RIP, Anne. You and Katherine Kurtz created my great love of fantasy and alternate worlds. To this day, F’nor of \Dragonquest\ is still one of my favorite heroes of all genres. Thank you for helping to open my mind. Godspeed!
What a sad sad day.
Anne has gone between. Condolences to her family and to us all….. she brought SO MUCH PLEASURE to my life…. some of the most dog eared, re loaned and passed around books i ever owned are all Written by her. The world is a little less bright.
Rest in peace Anne McCaffrey. You will be sorely missed.
Have fond memories of meeting Anne in Seattle and in Winnipeg at conventions. The first novel I remember reading of hers was “Restoree”. I still have a signed first edition paperback in my bookcase. One of the greats of the SF community, she will be missed. My condolences to Todd and the rest of her family.
She will be missed
A very Sad day indeed, loved her books, gave me many hours of reading pleasure. Condolences to her family and friends
I was fortunate enough to talk to her on the phone back in the 80’s about fiction writing. She was inspiring, kind and patient with my silly questions. I’ll always remember her fondly. My deepest condolences to her friends and family.
Hats off. A great lady passes by.
Goodbye, dear Annie.
Jane Yolen
Anne was a lovely lady and I will always remember the days she used to come and talk to us in the KTL chat room. She is responsible for my love of reading and writing. Before discovering her Dragons of Pern books I didn’t read for pleasure at all – it was all downhill from there, though! RIP Dragon Lady, you will be missed by so many.
She will be missed but I think the words of Peter Skellern are a fitting comfort to us all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPh_87UkRFU&feature=channel_video_title
Take it away Harper Peter!
You touched our hearts, imaginations, and our very souls, giving hope and joy, beauty and creation.
May your adventures continue where you now are. You will be missed here, but we will try to celebrate all the joys you brought instead of mourning our own losses.
Thank you, Annie.
-Just another one of the nameless millions you touched
When I was a preteen, my mother handed by the Pern novels saying ‘you might like these’. This is what tipped me over into being a Fantasy/SF reader, instead of a reader who occasionally reads Fantasy/SF
We’ve lost a truly great writer, but she will always always be with us. Peace and thank you for everything.
You will be missed, but be at peace. I will always enjoy your Pern series. Thank you!
I don’t know what to say, I’ve read and enjoyed her literary art all my life, its sad to thing she won’t be around to create more, however, her stories and heart will live on through her readers and those she inspired, myself included.
Thankyou Anne, you will be missed!
Let the Harpers sing the their grief the Wier woman of all Pern has passed Beyond. It is with great sadness i read of her passing today as a youth in the early 70’s i was introduced to her worlds of Pern and dinoplanet as well as her stories of the Parapshyic Institute He3r worlds told the stories of real people in fantasy and science fiction worlds. Their problems were my problems and helped me deal with my own youthful troubles. If not for her works i may have ended up just another dropout with no future to look forward too.
Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series helped me to survive highschool/college and become a strong woman and a leader. Here Pernese characters have been some of my best and most inspirational friends. I’m very sad to hear that she has passed and my thoughts are with her family.
I’m really saddened by this news. Anne McCaffrey was an author I discovered as a teenager – over 15 years ago – and she created worlds that made me wish I could be a part of, from harper, dragonrider, and talented because she made me love her characters so much.
My condolences for her friends, her family, and all her avid readers, as she touched us through her books as well.
Good night sweet lady. May flights of dragons sing thee to thy rest.
Like so many people have already posted, Anne was one of the first authors I read for enjoyment. Her Pern books where so real to a my young mind that I soo wished to escape to Pern to help against the Thread. I really wish I had of had the chance to meet her….
My condolences to her family and I hope she are riding for real with your beloved creations or sitting at a hearth chatting with Master Robinton now. You will be sorely missed
My thoughts to all her family. Anne was an amazing, brilliant woman with such a gift for making her worlds OUR worlds.
My sincere condolences to Anne McCaffrey’s family..
Anne was such a huge part of my childhood, I read EVERY ONE of her books, multiple times. I fell in love with The Rowan, and that entire series, and also her Ship Who books. I purchased multiple copies as I wore them out. She was a great writer, and the world has lost someone really really special. 
She became part of my life when I was little, and with her books she’ll always be a part of my life. Rest in peace, Anne, you will be greatly missed. 
She gave us such gifts. Such wounderous places to go and characters to travel with. Her tales will continue to touch us. Condolences to her family.
Most sincere condolences to Ms. McCaffrey’s family at this time. I have been a fan for thirty four years, and she never let me down when I picked up one of her books! Since I own a “Merlin” I think my favorite was the slyly titled “Mark of Merlin”. What a wonderful writer, with a wicked sense of humor and a limitless imagination. I will remember her through her legacy of books.
My condolences to her family at the loss of their beloved matriarch. I will miss a wonderful storyteller who took me away to her wondrous worlds. Her books have an honored place in my keeper bookcase. I have put Pern books in many an adolescent’s hand. We all want to belong some where and to be understood & loved.
I mourn Anne McCaffrey’s passing. I discovered the Pern series in the 1980s, reading it through via the State Library of Tasmania and following the series through the 90s and naughties. I love the richness of Anne’s storytelling, how she told similar events in different novels from different perspectives, and how the series moved from pure fantasy to science fiction.
I will miss Anne as a role model and inspiring author.
Vale Anne,
You will be remembered by generations who love your work and the intimacy and enfranchisement you gave them, and by the family and friends who cherished your spirit and surrounded you.
The bond between rider and dragon, that you gave us, will last a long time.
As the WeyrCat (the name I’ve use for my online self since I was 15… gods, 13 years now) I feel I must say Thank you to this lady who so shaped my young-teen reading habits. My mother owned tons of her books and I came to love more than the dragons she was so known for, but space, the exploration of other planets and peoples, technologies and what humans could achieve through science. Sure, some of them were a wee campy but her books largely shaped who I grew up to be. Writers touch people, and she definitely touched my life and therefore everyone in it. Thank you. ♥
To this day, I still re-read the Harper Hall trilogy every couple of years. They meant so much to me as a kid—the idea that a gentle, creative spirit could find a place to be nurtured instead of squashed was (and is) incredibly important. I just finished reading them again last month, and gave the series to my daughter. Anne made a huge difference in my life, as she did in so many others, and while I am inexpressibly sad at her passing, I am eternally grateful that she shared her talent with us all.
Anne McCaffrey has been my favorite writer since I first read her Pern books in college. From that time on, she was the one author whose books I had to buy in hardcover unwilling to wait for paperback. I have spent many hours travelling her worlds and made many good friends through a shared fondness for her books.
My sympathy goes out to her family.
Thank you, Anne for some of the best hours of my life. Clear skies always1
I’ve dreaded this day, and now that it’s here, I’m so very saddened. I suppose I hoped that like Pern, Ms. McCaffrey would endure. I discovered the Dragonriders a good 30 years ago, now, and found in the pages a world I longed to visit and people I wished to meet. The richness of Ms. McCaffrey’s world-building encouraged me to keep dreaming, to keep writing, and to keep asking “what if…?”
I’ve read Ms. McCaffrey off and on since then, often going back to old favorites but also exploring other worlds to which she introduced me, and each one lingered long after I’d finished the book.
Perhaps, then, I was mistaken in what I wrote above. She WILL endure, through what she’s left us. Thank you, Ms. McCaffrey, for opening my mind to possibility.
And my deepest condolences to her family and friends.
Anne McCaffrey let us see her soul through her writing, and I am just one of the millions of fans who discovered what a beautiful and creative soul it was. Thank you, Anne, for inspiring so many of us to love reading with your work.
So sad. Goodnight Anne McCaffrey. You’ll live on in the pages you wrote.
It is with deep sadness that I read tonight that Anne McCaffrey had passed. My deepest heartfelt condolences to her family, along with deep sadness, knowing that our World has lost the Talents of this great Lady.
Thank you dear Lady, for the many hours of enjoyment you have given to me, and the rest of your millions of fans. May God hold you in his arms, and walk hand in hand with you through the gardens of Heaven.
She has always been one of my favorite authors. I’m quite sure I have every book she ever wrote in my bookshelves. I always got a great deal of enjoyment from all her writing. Rest in Peace, Anne McCaffrey.
My sympathies to Anne’s family, friends, and fans. You books brought my hours of pleasure and still do!
My sincere condolences to the McCafferey family.
Cold Colder Coldest
the whole of Pern has leapt between
gone are our borrowed moments
gone are our dragon dreams
Anne McCaffrey RIP
RIP Anne McCaffrey. Thank you for the hours of escape. You shall be missed
I started reading Anne’s wonderful books when I was in high school , over 40 years ago. I introduced her to my father who taught me to love science fiction and later to my children. When my children were 10,8 & 6, I read “The Littlest Dragon Boy” out loud to them. They have all loved Anne and her awesome books and science fiction since then. All of them remember the story clearly 25 years later. Thank you Anne for helping me to share my love of reading with my children and now my grandchildren.
My sympathy to Anne’s family and friends and please know she will never be forgotten.