Biography
Christopher Paolini was raised in the area of Paradise Valley, Montana. His family members include his parents, Kenneth Paolini and Talita Hodgkinson, and his sister, Angela Paolini. Home schooled for the duration of his education, Paolini graduated from high school at the age of 15 through a set of accredited correspondence courses from American School of Correspondence in Lansing, Illinois. Following graduation, he started his work on what would become the novel Eragon, the first of a series set in the mythical land of Alagaësia.
In 2002, Eragon was published by Paolini International LLC, Paolini's parents' company. To promote the book, Paolini toured over 135 schools and libraries, discussing reading and writing, all the while dressed in "a medieval costume of red shirt, billowy black pants, lace-up boots, and a jaunty black cap." His sister Angela Paolini created the cover art for the first edition of Eragon, which featured Saphira's eye. Christopher Paolini drew the maps on the inside covers of his books.
In summer 2002, the stepson of author Carl Hiaasen found Eragon in a bookstore and loved it, and Hiaasen brought it to the attention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. Knopf subsequently made an offer to publish Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance cycle. The second edition of Eragon was published by Knopf in August 2003. At the age of nineteen, Paolini became a New York Times bestselling author. Eragon has since been adapted into a film of the same name.
Paolini's essay "It All Began with Books" was included in the April 2005 anthology Guys Write for Guys Read.
Eldest, the sequel of Eragon, was released August 23, 2005. The third book in the cycle, Brisingr, was released on September 20, 2008. Although the Inheritance Cycle was planned as a trilogy, the details for Brisingr had to be expanded to include a fourth book, Inheritance.
To date, the Inheritance Cycle has sold more than 25 million copies. On March 23, 2011, Random House announced the cover, title, and release date of Inheritance. It was released on November 8, 2011 in the US, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, EU and India.
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