Andrzej Sapkowski

Andrzej Sapkowski (born 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer, creator of The Witcher saga about the monster hunter Geralt of Rivia, which inspired CD Projekt Red's video games.

Born in Łódź on 21 June 1948, Sapkowski studied economics at the University of Łódź, worked as a sales representative for a foreign trade company and translated science fiction. His story "Wiedźmin" (The Witcher) won third prize in a 1986 competition run by the magazine Fantastyka. His first collection, Wiedźmin, appeared from Reporter in 1990. The Polish publisher SuperNowa then issued Miecz przeznaczenia (1992, Sword of Destiny), Ostatnie życzenie (1993, The Last Wish) and the five-novel saga: Krew elfów (1994, Blood of Elves), Czas pogardy (1995), Chrzest ognia (1996), Wieża Jaskółki (1997) and Pani Jeziora (1999). A stand-alone prequel, Sezon burz (Season of Storms), followed in 2013. His Hussite Trilogy, set during the fifteenth-century Hussite Wars, appeared between 2002 and 2006. CD Projekt Red adapted the saga as The Witcher (2007), The Witcher 2 (2011) and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015). He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2016.

For collectors

The Polish SuperNowa first editions are the true firsts of the saga. In English, The Last Wish was the first book to appear: Gollancz published it on 7 June 2007 in Danusia Stok's translation. Blood of Elves followed in 2008 and won the David Gemmell Legend Award in 2009. The remaining saga books appeared in English between 2013 and 2017. Because the English translations appeared out of the Polish order, check translation dates rather than the original Polish dates when identifying an English first.