Richard Russell Riordan Jr., known as Rick Riordan, is an acclaimed American author born on June 5, 1964. He is best known for his Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, which includes popular series such as Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Trials of Apollo, and The Nico di Angelo Adventures. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and have sold more than thirty million copies in the United States alone.

20th Century Fox adapted the first two books of his Percy Jackson series into films, although Riordan was not directly involved. More recently, he has served as a co-creator and executive producer for the television series adaptation of Percy Jackson, which debuted on Disney+ in 2023 and for which he won two Emmy Awards. His storytelling has extended into various media including graphic novels and short story collections.

Riordan's writing journey began with Big Red Tequila, the first book in the Tres Navarre mystery series. His major breakthrough came with The Lightning Thief (2005), the first novel in the five-volume Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which presents modern-day adolescents in a Greco-Roman mythological setting. Following this success, he authored The Heroes of Olympus, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, each exploring different mythologies.

In addition to his own series, Riordan contributed to developing The 39 Clues series and wrote its first book, The Maze of Bones. In 2021, he published Daughter of the Deep, and his third standalone novel, The Sun and the Star, co-authored with Mark Oshiro, was released on May 2, 2023.