Eldest

About Christopher Paolini

Christopher Paolini was born in 1983 in California where he still lives.  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 the American School in Chicago, Illinois. Following graduation, he started his work on what would become the novel Eragon and its sequel Eldest, both set in the kingdom of Alagaësia.

In 2002, Eragon was published in a small way by Paolini International LLC, Paolini's parents' company. However, his big break was to come in Summer 2002, when the stepson of author Carl Hiaasen found Eragon in a bookstore and loved it, and Hiaasen brought it to the attention of his publisher, who subsequently made an offer to publish Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance Cycle. The second edition of Eragon was published 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.

Eldest, the sequel to Eragon, was published in 2005. The third book in the cycle, Brisingr, was released in autumn 2008.  The fourth and final title in the series will be released before Christmas 2011.

Paolini's literary inspirations include the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, E. R. Eddison and the epic poem Beowulf.  Other literary influences include David Eddings, Brian Jacques, Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E. Feist, Ursula K. Le Guin. Other favourite authors include Philip Pullman and Garth Nix. Paolini notes that in his writing he ‘strives for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf.’

In this video, Christopher delivers the manuscript for the very last book in the Inheritance sequence to his publisher. Press play to watch: