Christopher Paolini

Christopher James Paolini, born November 17, 1983, is an American and Italian author best known for the fantasy series The Inheritance Cycle. He was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in the area of Paradise Valley, Montana, a place he later named as one of the main sources of his inspiration. Paolini is of Italian descent, with a paternal grandfather born in Rome, and he has Italian citizenship. Home schooled throughout his education, he graduated from high school at age 15 through accredited correspondence courses from the American School of Correspondence in Lansing, Illinois.

Paolini began work on his first novel, Eragon, when he was 15. Set in the mythical land of Alagaësia, the book first appeared in 2002 through Paolini International LLC, his parents’ publishing company. He helped promote it directly, touring more than 135 schools and libraries to talk about reading and writing while dressed in a medieval costume. He also drew the cover art for the first edition, featuring Saphira’s eye, and created the maps printed inside his books.

The book’s path changed in mid-2002, when the stepson of author Carl Hiaasen found Eragon in a bookstore and loved it. Hiaasen brought it to the attention of Alfred A. Knopf, which offered to publish Eragon and the rest of The Inheritance Cycle. Knopf released the second edition in August 2003. At 19, Paolini became a New York Times-bestselling author. The series continued with Eldest in 2005, Brisingr in 2008, and Inheritance in 2011. Though first planned as a trilogy, the cycle expanded, was translated and published in 53 countries, and sold more than 41 million copies.

Paolini returned to Alagaësia with The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm in 2018 and Murtagh in 2023, the first book in a follow-up duology. He also moved into science fiction with To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, published by Tor Books on September 15, 2020. In 2021 he released Unity, an interactive Fractalverse story, and in 2023 published Fractal Noise, a prequel to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. His work has also drawn screen interest: a film adaptation of Eragon was released by Fox 2000 in 2006, and in 2022 it was reported that he was co-writing a live-action television adaptation for Disney+.

The writers and stories that shaped Paolini’s work include J. R. R. Tolkien, E. R. Eddison, Beowulf, Bruce Coville’s Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, David Eddings, Andre Norton, Brian Jacques, Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E. Feist, Mervyn Peake, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Frank Herbert. He has also named works by C. S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Philip Pullman, and Garth Nix among his favorites. His books have appeared at the top of New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists, and Guinness World Records recognized him in 2011 as the youngest author of a bestselling book series. For readers of his words, Paolini’s appeal lies in a clear record: a teenage writer from Montana who built Alagaësia, kept returning to it, and then carried his imagination into science fiction.