Inspirational Quotes by Andre Norton (American Science Fiction Writer)

Andre Norton (1912–2005,) born Alice Mary Norton, was an American writer of young adult fantasy and science fiction novels. She wrote primarily under the pen name Andre Norton but also as Andrew North and Allen Weston.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Norton entered Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in 1930. Two years later, she began an 18-year career as a children’s librarian at the Cleveland Public Library. She legally changed her name to Andre Norton in 1934, when her historical fantasy The Prince Commands was published; it was the first of eight novels she published while serving as a librarian.

Among Norton’s early novels was an espionage trilogy about the Dutch underground during World War II, consisting of The Sword Is Drawn (1944,) Sword in Sheath (1949,) and At Swords’ Point (1954.) Her first science fiction work was Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. (1952;) it was reprinted in paperback as Daybreak-2250 A.D. and sold more than a million copies.

Norton’s protagonists were usually adolescent, independent, often alienated heroes and heroines grappling with their individuality as they learn more about themselves and the world in which they live. Her dominant theme was the rite of passage to self-realization undertaken by misfits or displaced outsiders. Norton’s Witch World series, set on a matriarchal planet, attracted a broad female audience when most teenage science fiction was intended for boys.

Norton published the final book of the series, The Warding of Witch World, in 1996. A group of cat stories co-written with Dorothy Madlee, beginning with Star Ka’at (1976,) also was popular, as were the multivolume Catfantastic anthologies that she co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg.

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