Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb is the pen name of Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (born 5 March 1952), an American fantasy writer from California best known for the Realm of the Elderlings novels, which began with Assassin's Apprentice in 1995.

From 1979 until 1995 she published only as Megan Lindholm, a name she still uses. Her Lindholm books include the Windsingers fantasies opened by Harpy's Flight (Ace, 1983), the urban fantasy Wizard of the Pigeons (1986), The Reindeer People (1988), Cloven Hooves (1991), The Gypsy (1992, with Steven Brust) and the science fiction novel Alien Earth (1992). Her story "A Touch of Lavender" was shortlisted for both the Hugo and the Nebula in 1990.

As Robin Hobb she wrote the Farseer trilogy, Assassin's Apprentice (1995), Royal Assassin (1996) and Assassin's Quest (1997). The Elderlings cycle continued with the Liveship Traders (from Ship of Magic, 1998), the Tawny Man (from Fool's Errand, 2001), the Rain Wild Chronicles (from Dragon Keeper, 2009) and Fitz and the Fool (from Fool's Assassin, 2014, to Assassin's Fate, 2017). Separately she wrote the Soldier Son trilogy (from Shaman's Crossing, 2005). Assassin's Fate won the David Gemmell Award in 2018, and in 2021 she received the World Fantasy Award for life achievement.

For collectors

The key title is Assassin's Apprentice, published in the United States by Bantam Spectra on 1 April 1995, with a Michael Whelan cover, and in the UK by HarperCollins Voyager as a 1995 hardback with a John Howe cover. Her later Hobb novels also appeared from Voyager in Britain, so British and American firsts form separate collecting lines.