Cinda Williams Chima

Cinda Williams Chima (born 1952) is a New York Times bestselling author, best known for The Heir Chronicles and The Seven Realms series.
Her Heir Chronicles young adult contemporary fantasy series includes The Warrior Heir (2006), The Wizard Heir (2007), The Dragon Heir (2008), The Enchanter Heir (2013), and The Sorcerer Heir (2014), all of which were published by Hyperion. Her Seven Realms series launched with The Demon King (2009), followed by The Exiled Queen (September, 2010) with The Gray Wolf Throne (August 30, 2011) and The Crimson Crown (Oct 2012). Her new series will be launching in 2016 with Flamecaster

Lucinda Williams was born in Springfield, Ohio in 1952. She began writing in high school before stopping to focus instead on college. She has a twin, Linda. Her fortune-telling grandmother and the Celtic magical beliefs in her native Jackson County heavily influenced her writing. She graduated from the University of Akron in 1975 with a BA in Philosophy, and in 1981 received a post-baccalaureate in Nutrition. She received her master's degree in Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University in 1984.

Prior to becoming a novelist, Chima was a clinical dietitian and filled several clinical management and leadership roles at the Cleveland Clinic and The MetroHealth System in Cleveland, where she directed the Clinical Nutrition Department and established the Diabetes Self-Management Program. Chima was also a freelance contributor to The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) and other local and regional publications, focusing on health-related topics and personal essays about family life.

From 2004–2009, she was an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Akron before leaving to write full-time.

When her sons were in their teens, she began writing again. Her efforts ended up becoming The Warrior Heir.

Chima’s books have received starred reviews in Kirkus and VOYA, among others. They have been named Booksense and Indie Next picks, an International Reading Association Young Adult Choice, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, to the Kirkus Best YA list, and the VOYA Editors’ Choice, Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, and Perfect Tens lists.

She was a recipient of the 2008 Lit Award for Fiction from the Cleveland Lit and was named a Cleveland Magazine Interesting Person 2009. She has been active in the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) for more than five years.

She lives in Ohio with her husband, rocket scientist Rod Chima, and two sons Eric and Keith.