Celia S. Friedman (known as C. S. Friedman) is an acclaimed American speculative fiction author, born on January 12, 1957. She originally pursued a career as a costume designer before embarking on her successful writing career in 1986. By 1996, Friedman was able to focus on writing full-time.

As of 2022, Friedman has published fourteen novels and numerous short stories, with several included in her 2021 collection, The Dreaming Kind. Additionally, she authored a sourcebook for White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game.

Her achievements include a nomination for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1988, and her novel This Alien Shore was recognized as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1998.

Recently, in August 2022, Deadline reported that Bohemia Group, a global management firm, was shopping a potential television series based on The Coldfire Trilogy, which was a finalist for NPR's Science Fiction and Fantasy Vote in 2011.