Patrick Rothfuss

Patrick Rothfuss is an international best-selling fantasy author, satirist, activist, and teacher. In addition to being a New York Times bestseller, his first novel, The Name of the Wind, won numerous awards and has been translated into 27 foreign languages.

Rothfuss had the good fortune to be born in Wisconsin where long winters and a lack of cable television brought about a love of reading and writing. His mother read to him as a child, and his father taught him to build things. If you are looking for the roots of his storytelling, look there.

Growing up, Rothfuss didn't apply himself and failed to live up to his full potential. Despite the fact that he seemed to have no interest in doing anything productive with himself, his parents continued to love him. They also were encouraging, but in a very general way, as he seemed to have no actual talents to speak of.

Having enjoyed the hard sciences in high school, Rothfuss began college as a chemical engineer. He soon abandoned that and decided to become a clinical psychologist. He eventually abandoned that as well, admitted he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, and changed his major to “Undeclared” despite the fact that he had been in college for over three years.

Over the next six years, Rothfuss lived the life of an itinerant student, working three jobs and studying everything that interested him: philosophy, medieval history, eastern theater, anthropology, sociology.... After nine years as an undergraduate, however, he was forced by university policy to complete his undergraduate degree...in English.

While wandering through college, Rothfuss learned he had a knack for writing. He wrote poetry for a local literary series, a satirical advice column for the local paper, and scripts for a radio comedy show. Two months before he graduated, Rothfuss finally finished the project he had been working on for over seven years: a mammoth story centering on the life of a man named Kvothe.

After two excruciating years of graduate school, Rothfuss returned to teach at the university he had grown to love as a student. During this time, his book was rejected by roughly every agent in the known universe. In 2002, a piece of his novel, cleverly disguised as a short story, won first place in the Writers of the Future contest. His story, “The Road to Levinshir”, was published, and Rothfuss was flown out to a fabulous writer’s workshop in LA.

There he met Kevin Anderson, who introduced him to his agent, Matt Bialer. Eventually, Matt brought Pat in contact with his current, beloved editor, Betsy Wollheim, president of Daw Books. And that's how Name of the Wind came into existence.

Rothfuss continues to live in central Wisconsin. He still lacks cable television, and the long winters force him to stay inside and write. He still teaches at the college he grew to love as a student, and acts as advisor for the College Feminists and the local Fencing Club. When not reading and writing, Rothfuss wastes his time playing video games, holds symposia at his house, and dabbles with alchemy in his basement. He loves the world and the characters he has created, and he loves that people are getting the chance to meet them.