Christopher James Paolini (born November 17, 1983) is an American author. He is best known for The Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon (2002), Eldest (2005), Brisingr (2008), and Inheritance (2011). He also authored the follow-up short story collection The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm (2018) and Murtagh (2023), the first in a follow-up duology. Paolini's first science fiction novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, was published on September 15, 2020.

Christopher Paolini was born in Southern California and has lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he wrote his first book. He published his first novel, Eragon, in 2003 at the age of nineteen, quickly becoming a publishing phenomenon. His Inheritance Cycle has sold nearly 40 million copies worldwide.