Caroline Stevermer (b. 1955) is an author best known for her historical fantasy novels for young adults. Raised on a Minnesota dairy farm, she began writing stories at the age of eight. Despite a fascination with the epic works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin, Stevermer did not consider writing seriously until her first day at Bryn Mawr College, when the sight of a manuscript by fantasy author Ellen Kushner inspired her to try writing novels.
In 1981 and 1982, she published her first two books as C. J. Stevermer: The Alchemist and The Duke and the Veil. In 1987 she contributed a short story, Cenedwine Brocade, to the Liavek series, a shared world brought to life in a series of five fantasy anthologies. Shortly thereafter, she began writing with fellow Liavek contributor Patricia C. Wrede.
Similarities in style and a shared interest in historical fiction made Stevermer and Wrede’s partnership a great success. Together they created an alternate version of Regency England, combining the Industrial Revolution era with a magical world. The first book in this fantasy series, Sorcery and Cecelia (1988) introduces cousins Kate and Cecelia, who trade letters telling of their encounters with the wizarding members of polite society.
Wrede and Stevermer returned to that world more than a decade later with The Grand Tour (2004), which follows Kate and Cecelia as they get embroiled in mysterious plots while on a tour of Europe. The Mislaid Magician (2006) concludes the series, recounting the adventures of Kate and Cecelia during England’s railway expansion.
In between her collaborations with Wrede, Stevermer found success with the Mark Twain–inspired River Rats (1991) and A College of Magics (1994), whose tales of life in a European witch’s academy were partly based on her time at Bryn Mawr.
In 1998, Stevermer contributed a story to The Essential Bordertown, a collection of fiction set in Terri Winding’s Borderlands universe. Stevermer’s most recent novel, Magic Below Stairs (2010), takes place in the world described in Sorcery and Cecelia, and tells the story of Frederick, a Victorian orphan who wins a job as a wizard’s footboy. Frederick must rely on a magical creature named Billy Bly to guide him through life in the servants’ quarters.
Stevermer continues to live and write in Minnesota, where she spends as much time as possible in the reading room at the Minneapolis public library.