Career Highlights

• Author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for children and the award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series
• The Percy Jackson series features a twelve-year-old dyslexic boy who discovers he is the modern-day son of a Greek god
• Riordan Has been award the three most coveted awards in the mystery genre: the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus
• Riordan taught middle-school English and history for 15 years
• His short fiction has appeared in Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

Career Overview

Rick Riordan earned a double-major in English and history from the University of Texas at Austin. He had a 15-year career as a teacher before he wrote his first novel. Riordan is best-know for his Percy Jackson series. The first book in the series, The Lightening Thief, was a New York Times Notable Book for 2005 and will be released as a major motion picture in 2010. Other Percy Jackson titles have been named Publishers Weekly and Booksense National Bestsellers.

Riordan’s adult fiction has won the top three national awards in the mystery genre: the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus. He also wrote the #1 New York Times Bestseller The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones and sold film rights for the novel to Steven Spielberg. Riordan now lives in San Antonio, Texas and is working on a new series based on the Egyptian pantheon.

Our Interview

Rick Riordan takes a minute at the 2009 National Book Festival to talk to our host, Erika Thomas. He answers her questions about his career writing a #1 best-selling fiction series.