Richard Russell Riordan Jr. (/ˈraɪərdən/ RY-ər-dən; born June 5, 1964)[1] is an American author, best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series.

His big breakthrough was The Lightning Thief (2005), the first novel in the five-volume Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which placed a group of modern-day adolescents in a Greco-Roman mythological setting.

Since then, Riordan has written The Heroes of Olympus, a sequel to the Percy Jackson series; The Kane Chronicles, a trilogy of similar premise focusing on Egyptian mythology; and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, again a trilogy of similar premise focusing on Norse mythology.

[3][4] Riordan also helped Scholastic Press develop The 39 Clues series and its spinoffs, and penned its first book, The Maze of Bones.

He graduated from Alamo Heights High School, and first attended the music program at North Texas State University, wanting to be a guitarist.

Tres Navarre, an adult mystery series about a Texas private eye, won the Shamus, Anthony, and Edgar Awards.

[11] He conceived the idea for the Percy Jackson series as bedtime stories about ancient Greek heroes for his son Haley.

[14] His Percy Jackson & the Olympians series features the titular twelve-year-old who discovers he is the modern-day son of the ancient Greek god Poseidon.

Examples include: Riordan's sources for the mythology used in his books must largely be surmised from isolated comments on the subject during various interviews, as he has never released a list of any kind.

[20][21] The author also claims to have read such notable classics as The Iliad and The Odyssey, and to use his "general knowledge" of a given mythology as a basis for his stories.

Later, he reported back that he had been "toying with the idea" and was "willing to go forward with a publishing line that was not a brand extension for his own work but a platform for Riordan to bring other great writers to the attention of his vast and loyal audience.

Lurie expressed hopes that the imprint would help satisfy Riordan fans without asking the author to write more than his usual two books a year.