Patrick Rothfuss was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and grew up as an avid reader due in part to inclement weather and a lack of cable television. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point in 1991. At university he originally planned to be a chemical engineer, but changed his mind to pursue a career in clinical psychology, and finally set his major as 'Undeclared' after three years...continuing to study any subject that caught his interest. During that time, while holding odd jobs, Rothfuss worked on an extremely long fantasy novel called The Song of Flame and Thunder. He also began to write the "Your College Survival Guide" column in The Pointer, the campus paper.

He graduated in 1999 with a B.A. in English. After receiving his MA at Washington State University, he returned two years later to teach at Stevens Point. After completing The Song of Flame and Thunder, Rothfuss submitted it to several publishing companies, but it was rejected. In 2002 he won the Writers of the Future 2002 Second Quarter competition with The Road to Levinshir, an excerpt from his novel. Rothfuss subsequently sold the novel to DAW Books. The Song of Flame and Thunder was split into a three-volume series entitled (or rather, retitled) The Kingkiller Chronicle, with the first installment, The Name of the Wind, published in April 2007. The novel subsequently won the 2007 Quill Award for best sci-fi/fantasy and was listed on the New York Times Best Seller list.

The Kingkiller Chronicle

• The Name of the Wind (April 2007)
• The Wise Man's Fear (March 2011)
• The Doors of Stone (working title)

This trilogy was originally one very long story with the working title The Song of Flame and Thunder. It was split in three for publication due to its length and the name was changed to avoid confusion with George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The series is essentially the autobiography of a famous musician, wizard, and adventurer named Kvothe, who is orphaned while travelling in the performing troupe in which both his mother and father work. After gaining notoriety at a young age, he disappears from public life and is eventually tracked down to a backwater inn by Devan Lochees, who goes by the name Chronicler, who, after some persuasion, convinces Kvothe to tell him his life story. However, the story is occasionally punctuated by interludes, during which it becomes clear that someone is looking for Kvothe, and that Kvothe's apprentice Bast is unwilling to let Chronicler tell all of Kvothe's story. The story thus proceeds on two levels, as we learn how Kvothe came to be the man he is now, whilst other events take place in the present hinting at a greater story to follow.

Other works

• "The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle" (July 2010, Subterranean Press)

"The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle" is a horror parody in the vein of the Brothers Grimm style of fairy tales, focusing on an unnamed princess, her teddy bear Mr. Whiffle, and a mysterious monster that lives underneath her bed. The story has three individual endings, each progressively darker than the last, and it is emphasized repeatedly that the book is not truly for children; some copies of the book bear a silver sticker featuring Mr. Whiffle's face - in the vein of the Newbery Award - but surrounded by the text, "This shit is not for children. Seriously."

1. Writers of the Future (2002 Second Quarter)
2. Quill Award (2007)
3. "Best Books of the Year" (2007) - Publishers Weekly - Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

Interviews

• Interview with Patrick Rothfuss conducted by Illusion TV, January 2008.
• Interview with Patrick Rothfuss conducted by Fantasy Literature, August 2008.
• Interview with Patrick Rothfuss conducted by Sci-Fi London, during his European promotional tour, May 2009.

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