10 YA Authors You Might Not Know Are HP Fans

We know what you’re thinking: who ISN’T a massive Harry Potter fan? (We certainly are--and we have the HP convention to prove it!) But some of your favorite YA authors were such huge HP fans, they were inspired to write YA because of it. One YA author even based her super hottie male love interest on her favorite HP bad boy. Wanna know who? Read on.

1. KIERA CASS

The Selection series author is a huge Twilight fan… but she's got the Hogwarts spirit, to boot. She made a video to prove her level of nerdery.

2. LEIGH BARDUGO

Shadow & Bone author Leigh Bardugo would take Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with her to a deserted island. It seems oddly appropriate that Harry Potter movie producer David Heyman is producing a movie based on Bardugo's lush, Russian-inspired magic fantasy.

3. VERONICA ROTH

Does Divergent hottie Four feel familiar to you? If you're a Severus Snape fan like author Veronica Roth is, he might. Roth is a huge Snape fan (she says so in this 2011 interview) and revealed the Four/Tobias (which was Snape's dad's name!) connection at the 2012 Harry Potter convention Ascendio.

4. BETH REVIS

Sci-fi author Beth Revis loves Harry Potter. She even wrote a post about how HP made her love reading for fun after college, and in Across the Universe, Harry Potter is right there next to Shakespeare on the library shelf as one of the books that endures, 300+ years into our future.

5. LINDSAY RIBAR

Lindsay Ribar is an equal-opportunity Remus/Tonks and Remus/Sirius shipper and she spent many years in Harry Potter fandom. Now she works as a literary agent and writes books about hot, bisexual genies. She'll be attending Leviosa, too!

6. RAINBOW ROWELL

Rainbow Rowell loves Harry Potter so much, she wrote Harry/Draco post-epilogue fanfiction--and admitted to it. And Simon Snow--the YA book series at the center Fangirl--is a love letter to Harry Potter. (and Harry/Draco, OTP) And for an extra dose of meta: Rowell will be publishing a Simon Snow standalone novel next year.

7. JESSICA KHOURY

Jessica Khoury defied the conservative culture in her Georgia town, even losing friends (!!!), to read Harry Potter. It changed her life, and lead her to become a YA writer of books such as Origin and Vitro.

8. MICHELLE HODKIN

Reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is like playing "spot the Harry Potter references"--author Michelle Hodkin is a huge fan and has attended the fan conventions to prove it.

9. RJ ANDERSON

Former Harry Potter fanfiction writer RJ Anderson now writes YA science fiction and fantasy, including the Fairy Rebels series and the sci-fi thriller duology Ultraviolet & Quicksilver.

10. VICTORIA SCHWAB

Victoria Schwab grew up with Harry Potter and has been known to attend midnight releases. She's credited Harry Potter as an inspiration in numerous interviews and at fan conventions.

Meet fellow Harry Potter fanatics turned YA authors like these at Leviosa, a Harry Potter and YA Literature fan convention taking place July 7-10, 2016 in Las Vegas. Find out more at leviosa.org. Registration opens soon!