Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan (born 5 June 1964 in San Antonio, Texas) is an American author of children's fantasy rooted in mythology, best known for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which began with The Lightning Thief in 2005.

Before writing full time he taught English and history in middle schools in Texas and the San Francisco Bay Area, including eight years at Presidio Hill School in San Francisco. His first novel, Big Red Tequila (1997), opened the Tres Navarre mysteries, an adult series about a Texas private investigator that won Edgar, Anthony and Shamus awards. The Lightning Thief grew out of bedtime stories for his elder son and was published by Miramax Books on 1 July 2005, the first of five Percy Jackson books later published by Disney-Hyperion. He followed it with The Heroes of Olympus (five books, 2010 to 2014), the Egyptian-themed Kane Chronicles, beginning with The Red Pyramid (2010), and later series including Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard and The Trials of Apollo. In 2018 Disney-Hyperion launched the imprint Rick Riordan Presents, which publishes mythology-based fiction by other writers. His official site reports more than 190 million copies of his books in print worldwide.

For collectors

The Miramax Books first edition of The Lightning Thief (2005) is the key Riordan book, since the series moved to Disney-Hyperion imprints afterwards. In the UK the novel won the Red House Children's Book Award in 2006. The 1997 first edition of Big Red Tequila is the earliest of his books.