Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels. She is best known for the Arthurian fiction novel The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series. Bradley was noted for her feminist perspective in her writing.

Bradley began writing at the age of 17 and later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. She co-founded the Society for Creative Anachronism in 1966 and served as the editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress anthology series. She was posthumously awarded the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement in 2000.

Although Bradley remained popular during her lifetime, her reputation was posthumously marred when in 2014 her daughter reported that Bradley had sexually abused her, and allegedly assisted her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in his own grooming and sexual abuse of multiple unrelated children. Many science fiction authors have since publicly condemned Bradley.