Patrick Rothfuss

Patrick Rothfuss, born in 1973 in Madison, Wisconsin, is an American author best known for his epic fantasy series The Kingkiller Chronicle. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he began as a chemical engineering student before switching to English and spending an unusually long stretch as an undergraduate, all while working on the manuscript that would make his name.

He spent nearly a decade writing and revising his debut novel, The Name of the Wind, which was published in 2007 to wide critical acclaim. The book introduced Kvothe, a gifted and notorious figure who narrates the story of his own life, and it won the Quill Award and became a New York Times bestseller.

The success of his first book allowed Rothfuss to write full time, and the second volume in the series, The Wise Man's Fear, appeared in 2011 and also topped the bestseller lists. Readers have awaited the concluding volume of the trilogy for many years, and the long wait has become a notable subject of discussion among fantasy fans.

His writing is admired for its lyrical prose, its careful attention to language and music, and its framing device of a legendary man recounting his own history to a chronicler over three days. He has also published the novella The Slow Regard of Silent Things, set within the same world.

Beyond his fiction, Rothfuss founded Worldbuilders, a charity that has raised millions of dollars for humanitarian organizations through the participation of authors and readers, making philanthropy a central part of his public life.