Judith Lewis (née Rumelt; born July 27, 1973), better known by her

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Cassandra Clare, is an American author of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

, best known for her bestselling series ''The Mortal Instruments''.''

Personal life

Clare was born Judith Rumelt to American parents in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran. She is the daughter of

Richard Rumelt Richard Post Rumelt (born November 10, 1942) is an American professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management. He joined the school in 1976 from Harvard Business School. Academic career Richard Rumelt earned ...

, a business school professor and author. Her maternal grandfather was film producer

Max Rosenberg Max J. Rosenberg (September 13, 1914 – June 14, 2004) was an American film producer, whose career spanned six decades. He was particularly known for his horror or supernatural films, and found much of his success while working in England. Lif ...

. Clare is Jewish and has described her family as "not religious". As a child, Clare traveled frequently, spending time in Switzerland, England, and France. She returned to Los Angeles for high school, and from then on split her time between

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where she worked at various entertainment magazines and tabloids, including ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

''. While living in Los Angeles, Clare began writing

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settin ...

using the name Cassandra Claire. ''The Draco Trilogy'', based on ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'', and ''The Very Secret Diaries'', based on ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'', were popular. However, she deleted her fan fiction from the Internet shortly before her first novel, '' City of Bones'', was published under the name Cassandra Clare. She is also friends with author

Holly Black Holly Black (''née'' Riggenbach; born November 10, 1971) is an American writer and editor best known for her children's and young adult fiction. Her most recent work is the ''New York Times'' bestselling young adult ''Folk of the Air'' series. ...

, and their books occasionally overlap, Clare mentioning characters from Black's novels and vice versa, such as Val and Luis from Black's ''Valiant''. Clare is also credited by her publisher with creating the "''City of Fallen Angels'' treatment" where a tangible "letter" from one character to another is attached to the back of physical copies of a book. The goal is to spur print book sales. In 2016, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' reported that Clare was being sued by

Sherrilyn Kenyon Sherrilyn Woodward (formerly Sherrilyn Kenyon; born December 11, 1965) is a bestselling US writer. Under her former married name, she wrote both urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She is best known for her Dark Hunter series. Under the pseud ...

for 'wilfully copying' her novels. Kenyon's suit was amended to drop the copyright claims and the remaining dispute over branding and cover designs was settled for an undisclosed amount. , Clare resides in

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

, with her husband, Joshua Lewis, and three cats.

''The Mortal Instruments'' series

In 2004, Clare started working on her first-published novel, ''City of Bones'', inspired by the urban landscape of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. ''City of Bones'' was released by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

in 2007 and is a contemporary fantasy story revolving around characters

Clary Fray This is a list of the main characters from ''The Mortal Instruments'' series by Cassandra Clare, including the novels '' City of Bones'', ''City of Ashes'', '' City of Glass'', ''City of Fallen Angels'', '' City of Lost Souls'', and ''City of He ...

Jace Wayland This is a list of the main characters from ''The Mortal Instruments'' series by Cassandra Clare, including the novels '' City of Bones'', '' City of Ashes'', '' City of Glass'', ''City of Fallen Angels'', '' City of Lost Souls'', and ''City of H ...

, and Simon Lewis, which became a ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestseller upon its release. ''

City of Ashes ''City of Ashes'' is the second installment in ''The Mortal Instruments'' series, an urban fantasy series set in New York written by Cassandra Clare. The novel was one of YALSA's top ten teen books for 2009. Plot Clary returns to the Institu ...

'' and '' City of Glass'' completed the first trilogy. A subsequent second trilogy contained three more books: ''

City of Fallen Angels ''City of Fallen Angels'' is the fourth book in ''The Mortal Instruments'' series by Cassandra Clare. The series was meant to end with '' City of Glass''; it was announced in March 2010 that a fourth book would be added, with Cassandra Clare la ...

'', '' City of Lost Souls'', and ''

City of Heavenly Fire ''City of Heavenly Fire'' is a young adult fantasy romance novel, the sixth and final installment in ''The Mortal Instruments'' series, and chronologically the twelfth installment in ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles'' franchise by Cassandra Clare. ...

''. There is a prequel trilogy called ''

The Infernal Devices ''The Infernal Devices'' is a trilogy by author Cassandra Clare, centring on a race called the Shadowhunters introduced in her ''The Mortal Instruments'' series. The trilogy is a prequel series to ''The'' ''Mortal Instruments'' series. Cassandr ...

'', which is set in the same universe as ''The Mortal Instruments'', but set in the Victorian era. This consisting of three books: ''Clockwork Angel'', published on August 31, 2010, ''Clockwork Prince'', published on December 6, 2011, and ''Clockwork Princess'', published on March 19, 2013. A fourth trilogy set in this universe was announced in 2012, to be collectively known as ''The Dark Artifices''. The new contemporary series is set in Los Angeles, and follow female shadowhunter Emma Carstairs, who was introduced in ''

''. The first book, ''

Lady Midnight ''Lady Midnight'' is a young adult urban fantasy novel by Cassandra Clare. It is the first book in ''The Dark Artifices'', which is chronologically fourth in ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles''. The book follows the events that occur in the Los Ange ...

'', was released in March 2016; the second, ''

Lord of Shadows ''Lord of Shadows'' is a young adult urban fantasy novel by Cassandra Clare. It is the second book in ''The Dark Artifices'', which is chronologically the fourth series in ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles''. The book is set in the Los Angeles area ...

'' was released in April 2017; the third, ''Queen of Air and Darkness'' was released on December 4, 2018. There are also two series of interconnected short stories set in this universe. The first is ''

The Bane Chronicles ''The Bane Chronicles'' is a series of connected novellas featuring the character of Magnus Bane from Cassandra Clare's ''The Mortal Instruments'' series. The novellas are co-written by Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Sarah Rees Brennan. Release of t ...

'', completed in 2014 and written with

Sarah Rees Brennan Sarah Rees Brennan (born 21 September 1983) is an Irish writer best known for young adult fantasy fiction. Her first novel, '' The Demon's Lexicon'', was released June 2009 by Simon & Schuster. Rees Brennan's books are bestsellers in the UK. Li ...

and

Maureen Johnson Maureen Johnson (born February 16, 1973) is an American author of young adult fiction. Her published novels include series leading titles such as ''13 Little Blue Envelopes'', ''The Name of the Star'', ''Truly Devious,'' and ''Suite Scarlett''. ...

, and the second is the planned ''Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy'', written with Brennan and Johnson as well as

Robin Wasserman Robin Wasserman (born May 31, 1978) is an American novelist and essayist. Wasserman grew up outside of Philadelphia and graduated from Harvard University and UCLA. Before she was an author she was an associate editor at a children's book publis ...

. The first book in ''The Mortal Instruments'' was made into a film, '' The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones'' (2013), by Unique Features and

Constantin Film The Constantin Film AG is a German mini-major film production and distribution company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of pr ...

. First-time writer Jessica Postigo wrote the screenplay.

Lily Collins Lily Jane Collins (born 18 March 1989) is a British and American actress and model who is known for her work in several films, including ''Stuck in Love'' (2012), ''The English Teacher'' (2013), and '' Love, Rosie'' (2014), comedy ''Rules Do ...

played

and

Jamie Campbell Bower James Metcalfe Campbell Bower (born 22 November 1988) is an English actor and singer. He made his feature film debut in 2007 with a supporting role in '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''. He went on to feature in '' The Twiligh ...

played

. After a disappointing box office performance, subsequent movies in the series were cancelled. A television adaptation of ''The Mortal Instruments'' called '' Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments'' began airing in January 2016. It was canceled after the third season.

Awards

''City of Bones''

*2010 Georgia Peach Book Awards for Teen Readers *Finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel of 2007 *An American Library Association Teens Top Ten Award winner, 2008 *2010 Georgia Peach Book Awards for Teen Readers *Winner of The 2010 Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award *Winner of the 2010 Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award *A Texas TAYSHAS title 2010 *Shortlisted for the 2010 Evergreen Young Adult Book Award *Shortlisted for The 2010 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award *Shortlisted for The North Carolina School Library Media Association Young Adult Book Award *Oregon Young Adult Network Book Rave Reading List Title 2008 *Shortlisted for the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards

''City of Ashes''

*A 2009 ALA Teens Top Ten Title

''City of Fallen Angels''

* Best Goodreads Author in 2011

Bibliography

''
The Shadowhunter Chronicles ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles'' is a media franchise based on the writings of American young adult fiction writer Cassandra Clare, which currently encompasses six series of novels, three short-story collections, five graphic novels, one film, a t ...
''

''
The Mortal Instruments ''The Mortal Instruments'' is a series of six young adult fantasy novels written by American author Cassandra Clare, the last of which was published on May 27, 2014. ''The Mortal Instruments'' is chronologically the third series of a planned fi ...
''

* '' City of Bones'' (March 27, 2007) * ''

'' (March 28, 2008) * '' City of Glass'' (March 24, 2009) * ''

'' (April 5, 2011) * '' City of Lost Souls'' (May 8, 2012) * ''

'' (May 27, 2014)

''Mortal Instruments'' companion books

* ''Shadowshunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader'' (with

Rachel Caine Rachel Caine was the pen name of Roxanne Longstreet Conrad (April 27, 1962 – November 1, 2020) who was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and horror novels. Personal life Conrad grew up in West Texas and gradu ...

Kami Garcia Kami Garcia (born March 25, 1972) is an American writer. She is known for writing young adult fiction and graphic novels for DC Comics. Life She grew up in the Washington, D.C. area, but currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Garcia is a ...

) (January 29, 2013) *''

The Shadowhunter's Codex ''The Shadowhunter's Codex'' is a companion book to Cassandra Clare's ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles''. The book was authored by both Clare and her husband, Joshua Lewis, and was released on October 29, 2013. ''The Shadowhunter's Codex'' is written ...

'' (with Joshua Lewis) (October 29, 2013) *''

Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy ''Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy'' or simply called ''Shadowhunter Academy'' is a series of connected novellas featuring the character of Simon Lewis from Cassandra Clare's best-selling ''The Mortal Instruments'' series. It consists of ten n ...

'' (with Sarah Rees Brennan,

) (2015; print edition released November 15, 2016) *''A History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld'' (illustrated by Cassandra Jean) (February 18, 2016) *''Ghosts of the Shadow Market: An Anthology of Tales'' (with Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Robin Wasserman &

Kelly Link Kelly Link (born July 19, 1969) is an American editor and author of short stories. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of sci ...

) (June 4, 2019)

''Mortal Instruments'' graphic novels

Art by Cassandra Jean. * ''The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1'' (November 7, 2017) * ''The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2'' (October 30, 2018) * ''The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 3'' (October 29, 2019) * ''The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 4'' (October 24, 2020) * ''The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 5'' (TBA March 29, 2022)

''Mortal Instruments'' coloring books

* ''The Official Mortal Instruments Coloring Book'' (illustrated by Cassandra Jean) (April 25, 2017)

''
The Infernal Devices ''The Infernal Devices'' is a trilogy by author Cassandra Clare, centring on a race called the Shadowhunters introduced in her ''The Mortal Instruments'' series. The trilogy is a prequel series to ''The'' ''Mortal Instruments'' series. Cassandr ...
''

*''

Clockwork Angel Clockwork Angel is the first installment of ''The Infernal Devices'' trilogy by Cassandra Clare. After the death of her aunt, Tessa Gray is sent a ticket to travel to London by her brother Nathaniel. On arrival, she is kidnapped and abused by two ...

'' (August 31, 2010) *'' Clockwork Prince'' (December 6, 2011) *'' Clockwork Princess'' (March 19, 2013)

''Infernal Devices'' graphic novels

Art by HyeKyung Baek. * ''The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel, Volume 1'' (October 10, 2012) * ''The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Prince, Volume 2'' (September 30, 2013) * ''The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Princess, Volume 3'' (July 22, 2014)

''The Bane Chronicles''

* ''

'' (with Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson) (2013–2014; print edition released November 11, 2014)

''
The Dark Artifices ''The Dark Artifices'' is a trilogy written by Cassandra Clare. The series is chronologically the fourth series in ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles'' and a sequel to ''The Mortal Instruments''. It is set in Los Angeles. The series consists of three b ...
''

* ''

'' (March 8, 2016) * ''

'' (May 23, 2017) * '' Queen of Air and Darkness'' (December 4, 2018)

''The Eldest Curses''

This series is co-written with

Wesley Chu Wesley Chu (朱恆昱) (born September 23, 1976, in Taipei) is a #1 New York Times Bestselling speculative fiction author. He was originally raised by his grandparents in Taiwan while his parents were studying in the United States. In 1982, he ...

. * ''The Red Scrolls of Magic'' (March 9, 2019) * ''The Lost Book of White'' (September 1, 2020) * ''The Black Volume of the Dead'' (TBA)

''
The Last Hours ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles'' is a media franchise based on the writings of American young adult fiction writer Cassandra Clare, which currently encompasses six series of novels, three short-story collections, five graphic novels, one film, a t ...
''

*''

Chain of Gold ''Chain of Gold'' is a Young adult fiction, young adult-urban fantasy-American literature, novel by Cassandra Clare. It is the first book in ''The Last Hours'', which is chronologically second in ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles''. The book follows ...

'' (March 3, 2020) *''Chain of Iron'' (March 2, 2021) *''Chain of Thorns'' (January 31, 2023)

''
The Wicked Powers ''The Shadowhunter Chronicles'' is a media franchise based on the writings of American young adult fiction writer Cassandra Clare, which currently encompasses six series of novels, three short-story collections, five graphic novels, one film, a ...
''

* ''Untitled Book 1 (TBA)'' * ''Untitled Book 2 (TBA)'' * ''Untitled Book 3 (TBA)''

''The Magisterium'' series

This series is written with

. * ''

The Iron Trial ''The Iron Trial'', written by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare and published September 9, 2014 by Scholastic Corporation, is the first book in The Magisterium Series. Plot The protagonist of The Magisterium Series is twelve-year-old Callum (Ca ...

'' (September 9, 2014) * ''

The Copper Gauntlet The Copper Gauntlet is the second book in The Magisterium Series written by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare Judith Lewis (née Rumelt; born July 27, 1973), better known by her pen name Cassandra Clare, is an American author of young adult f ...

'' (September 1, 2015) * '' The Bronze Key'' (August 30, 2016) * ''

The Silver Mask ''The Silver Mask'' ( ro, Masca de argint) is a 1985 Romanian action historical film directed by Gheorghe Vitanidis. This is the fourth film in the ''Margelatu'' series, after '' Drumul oaselor'' (1980), '' Trandafirul galben'' (1982), '' Miste ...

'' (October 10, 2017) * '' The Golden Tower'' (September 11, 2018)

''The Sword Catcher'' series

* ''Sword Catcher'' (TBA 2021) * ''The Ragpicker King'' (TBA)

Short fiction

*"The Girl's Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord", ''

Turn the Other Chick ''Turn the Other Chick'' is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Esther Friesner, with a cover by Mitch Foust. It consists of works featuring female protagonists by (mostly) female authors. It was first published in hardcover by Baen Books i ...

'', ed. Esther Friesner, Baen Books (2004) (writing as Cassandra Claire) *"Charming", ''So Fey'', ed.

Steve Berman Steve Berman is an American editor, novelist and short story writer. He writes in the field of queer speculative fiction. Biography Berman was born on August 28 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in southern New Jersey. Berman realized i ...

, Haworth Press (2007) *"Graffiti", ''Magic in the Mirrorstone'', ed. Steve Berman, Mirrorstone Books (2008) *"Other Boys", '' The Eternal Kiss'', ed. Trisha Telep, Running Press (2009) *"The Mirror House", ''Vacations from Hell'', ed. Farrin Jacobs, HarperCollins (2009) *"I Never", ''Geektastic'', ed. Holly Black and Cecil Castelucci, Little, Brown (2009) *"Cold Hands", ''ZVU: Zombies Versus Unicorns'', ed. Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier, Simon and Schuster (2010) *"The Perfect Dinner Party" (w/Holly Black), ''Teeth: Vampire Tales'', ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, HarperCollins (2011) *"The Rowan Gentleman" (w/Holly Black), in ''Welcome to Bordertown'' (2011) *"Sisters Before Misters" (w/Sarah Rees Brennan & Holly Black) in ''Dark Duets: All-New Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy'' (2014)

Fan fiction (writing as Cassandra Claire)

*The Draco Trilogy: "Draco Dormiens", "Draco Sinister", and "Draco Veritas" (Harry Potter) *The Very Secret Diaries (The Lord of the Rings)

References

External links

Author's websiteAuthor's livejournal
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, Cassandra 1973 births 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American fantasy writers American women novelists American women short story writers Fan fiction writers Jewish American novelists Living people Novelists from Massachusetts Writers from Amherst, Massachusetts Pseudonymous women writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century American Jews