Nancy Yi Fan (born August 26, 1993 Chinese: 范禕) is a Chinese American author who is best known for writing a series that currently consists of the novels Swordbird, Sword Quest, and Sword Mountain.

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Fan was born in Beijing, China. At the age of 7, she moved with her parents to Syracuse, New York. She started writing her first novel 3 years later, and completed the manuscript within a year. Fan's book became a New York Times Bestseller, and she was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show as one of the world's smartest kids. She then began writing Sword Quest, a prequel to Swordbird, and published it two years later. Her third book, Sword Mountain, was released in July 2012.

Fan's novel was inspired by her lifelong love for birds. After awaking from a vivid dream about birds at war while simultaneously wrestling with her feelings about terrorism and the September 11th Attacks, Fan wrote Swordbird as a way to convey a message of peace to the world.^[1] At the age of eleven, Fan began writing a manuscript for her story, which she finished a year later. She emailed her manuscript to the CEO of HarperCollins, which led to the novel's 50,000-copy first printing.^[2]

In 2008, HarperCollins released Sword Quest, a prequel set 100 years before the time of Swordbird.

The third novel in Fan's series released in July 2012, by HarperCollins. This books centers on the golden eagles of Sword Mountain.