The Book
The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One) is a fantasy novel by Patrick Rothfuss, the first book in a series called The Kingkiller Chronicle. It was published in 2007 by DAW Books.
Rothfuss wrote The Name of the Wind during his nine-year advance toward his B.S. in English. He drew inspiration from the range of college courses he explored, and from his personal interests and hobbies. A short story excerpted from the novel The Wise Man's Fear (sequel to The Name of the Wind), "The Road to Levinshir", won the Writers of the Future contest in 2002, leading to the book's publication. The Wise Man's Fear itself was released on March 1, 2011 by DAW Books.
The book is divided into two timelines: the first in the present, told through a third-person narrator; the second in protagonist Kvothe's past, narrated by Kvothe himself.
The Author
Patrick Rothfuss was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and received his B.S. in English from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in 1999 after spending nine years as an undergraduate. He contributed to The Pointer, the campus paper and produced a widely circulated parody warning about the Goodtimes Virus.
In August 2012, Rothfuss began a monthly podcast called The Story Board on fantasy, featuring authors such as Terry Brooks and Brandon Sanderson. The Story Board ran for 8 episodes. In 2014, Rothfuss began collaborating with James Ernest to create an abstract strategy game called Tak based on the game featured in his book, The Wise Man's Fear.
Rothfuss has two sons whose names he does not use on the internet for their privacy (on his blog he calls them "Oot" and "Cutie Snoo") and lives in a house he bought with his girlfriend, Sarah. Rothfuss organizes the charity Worldbuilders, which, since 2008, has raised over $4 million, primarily for Heifer International, a charity which provides livestock, clean water, education and training for communities in the developing world.