Deborah Harkness

Deborah Harkness (born 1965) is an American scholar, novelist and wine enthusiast, best known as a historian and as the author of the "All Souls" Trilogy, which consists of The New York Times best selling novel A Discovery of Witches and its sequels Shadow of Night and The Book of Life.

Born in 1965, Harkness grew up near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of an American-born father and a British-born mother. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College (B.A., 1986), Northwestern University (M.A., 1990), and the University of California, Davis (Ph.D., 1994). Harkness also studied abroad at Oxford University. She is a well-regarded historian of science and medicine, as well as having studied alchemy, magic and the occult.

Harkness is a professor of history and teaches European history and the history of science at the University of Southern California. She has published two works of historical non-fiction, John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy and the End of Nature (1999) and The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution (2007).

In 2011, Harkness published her first work of fiction, A Discovery of Witches. The first novel in the All Souls trilogy, A Discovery of Witches is a historical fiction novel that tells the story of a modern-day witch who inadvertently calls up an ancient enchanted manuscript at Oxford University's Bodleian Library thereby attracting the unwelcome notice of a host of magical creatures who live among humans, including other witches, daemons, and a 1,500-year-old French vampire. The novel debuted at number two on The New York Times Best Seller hardcover fiction list, and has been sold in at least 34 countries. The book was called "a sophisticated fairy tale for adults" by the San Antonio Express-News. The second novel in the series, Shadow of Night, was published a year later, becoming a number one success on The New York Times Best Seller list. The third novel in the series is called The Book of Life. The book was published on July 15, 2014 in hardback, e-book, and audiobook in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland.

On January 9, 2014, the United States front cover and a two-page excerpt were released to the public on USA Today. On May 12, 2014, chapter 1 was released on Harkness' website. Harkness is also the author of the award-winning wine blog, Good Wine Under $20.

Harkness currently lives in Southern California where she teaches.

Harkness' faculty profile on the University of Southern California's website lists the following honors and awards:

• Highly Commended, Longman-History Today Awards Book Prize, Spring 2009
• Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, Pfizer Award for Best Book in the History of Science, History of Science Society, Fall 2008
• Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, John Best Snow Prize for Best Book in British Studies, North American Conference on British Studies, Fall 2008
• Prize for Best Book, Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies, Spring 2008
• Huntington Library Research Fellowship Recipient, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, 2006–2007
• Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient, John S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, 2004–2005
• Residency at the National Humanities Center, National Humanities Center, John E. Sawyer Fellow, 2004–2005
• NIH/NSF Career Development Award, National Science Foundation Senior Scholar's Award, 2001–2002
• Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, Derek Price Award for Best Article, History of Science Society, 1998
• American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship Recipient, ACLS Fellowship, 1997–1998
• Huntington Library Research Fellowship Recipient, NEH Fellowship, Huntington Library, 1997–1998
• Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, Nelson Prize for Best Article, Renaissance Society of America, 1997
• Jacob K. Javits Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education, 1989–1993
• Fulbright Award, Fulbright Fellowship to the United Kingdom, 1991–1992