Born: June 5, 1964, San Antonio, TX

Website: www.rickriordan.com 

Richard Russell “Rick” Riordan, Jr. was born in San Antonio, Texas to a musician/artist mother and ceramicist father, who were also both teachers. He was editor of his high school newspaper. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a double major in English and history.

Mr. Riordan’s first career was as a middle-school teacher. He worked at Presidio Hill School in San Francisco, California for eight years before moving back to San Antonio. After six more years of teaching at Saint Mary’s Hall, Mr. Riordan made the tough decision to become a full-time writer, although he is still teaching kids through his books.

While living in San Francisco, Mr. Riordan was nostalgic for his hometown in Texas. He wrote his first novel “Big Red Tequila,” a mystery set in San Antonio. He taught Greek mythology to his students and got the idea for his best-selling Percy Jackson series by telling his son, Haley, bedtime stories. “I think kids want the same thing from a book that adults want,” he has said, “a fast-paced story, characters worth caring about, humor, surprises and mystery.”

He currently lives in San Antonio with his wife and two sons, Haley and Patrick.

Bibliography:

Big Red Tequila (1997)
The Widower’s Two-Step (1998)
The Last King of Texas (2001)
The Devil Went Down to Austin (2002)
Cold Springs (2004)
Southtown (2004)
Mission Road (2005)
The Lightning Thief (2005)
The Sea of Monsters (2006)
The Titan’s Curse (2007)
Rebel Island (2008)
The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)
The Maze of Bones (2008)
The Last Olympian (2009)
The Demigod Files (2009)
The Lost Hero (2010)
The Red Pyramid (2010)
The Son of Neptune (2011)
The Throne of Fire (2011)
Vespers Rising (2011)
The Mark of Athena (2012)
The Demigod Diaries (2012)
The Serpent’s Shadow (2012)
The House of Hades (2013)
Son of Sobek (novella, 2013)
The Staff of Serapis (novella, 2014)
Percy Jackson’s Book of Greek Gods (2014)
The Blood of Olympus (2014)