James Patterson published his first thriller in 1976 and since then has become one of the best-known and bestselling writers of all time, with more than 140 million copies of his books sold worldwide. He is the author of the two most popular detective series of the past decade, the Alex Cross novels and the Women’s Murder Club series, and he has written numerous other #1 bestsellers. He has won an Edgar Award—-the mystery world’s highest honor—-and his novels Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider were made into feature films starring Morgan Freeman.

Patterson is a champion of reading and the founder of the $250,000 PageTurner awards that seek to spread the excitement and joy of books and reading. James's first foray into kid-accessible fiction, the critically acclaimed Maximum Ride series, debuted on the New York Times’ list at #1 and remained there for 12 straight weeks. The series has so far been on the bestsellers lists for more than 56 weeks, proving that kids love page turners, too.