James patterson author biography for book

"Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. He later teamed with former U.S. President Bill Clinton to pen the thriller The President Is Missing, published in 2018.

When working with another writer, Patterson first writes an extensive outline, which is then sent to the co-author.

Patterson invests proceeds from the sales of JIMMY Patterson Books in pro-reading initiatives.

Patterson also founded ReadKiddoRead.com, a website designed to help parents, teachers, and librarians ignite a new generation’s excitement for reading.

He is the recipient of an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.

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Get to Know James

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James Patterson’s Awards

• International Thriller Writers’ 2025 Silver Bullet Award
• National Endowment for the Humanities’ 2019 National Humanities Medal
• National Book Foundation’s 2015 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community
• National Parenting Publications Honors Awards
• International Reading Association’s Young Adults’ Choices Booklist
• American Library Association “Teens Top Ten” Pick
• London Times Book Sense Children’s Pick
• 2011 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award, Nominee
• Children’s Choice Book Awards
  • Author of the Year 2010 for Max
  • Nominee, 2011 Teen Choice Book of the Year (Fang) and 2012 Author of the Year (Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life)
• Mystery Writers of America’s 1977 Edgar Award

Awards for ReadKiddoRead

• Winner of the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize
• Winner of the American Library Association’s Great Websites for Kids

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Giving Back

James Patterson has donated more than one million books to students, focusing on some of the most under-resourced schools and youth programs in the country.

It won an Edgar Award, a top prize for mystery writers.

Patterson penned several other novels, but it was not until 1993 that he achieved breakout success with Along Came a Spider. His writing style emphasizes page-turning momentum with cliffhangers, multiple storylines, and concise prose. Other Cross books include Kiss the Girls (1995), Pop Goes the Weasel (1999), Violets Are Blue (2001), Mary, Mary (2005) and Cross My Heart (2013).

Poe is best known for his... Patterson has also donated more than one million books to U.S. soldiers at home and overseas.

Giving Back to Higher Education

The Patterson Family Foundation has given over $35 million to the alma maters of James and Sue Patterson: Vanderbilt University, Manhattan College, and the University of Wisconsin.

College Scholarships

The Patterson Family Foundation has awarded over seven million dollars in scholarships to students at more than 35 different colleges.

Patterson left Vanderbilt after a year, and then took a job as a copywriter at ad agency J. Walter Thompson in 1971.

Success and 'Alex Cross' Series

Though Patterson climbed the company ranks, eventually becoming its North American CEO, he also wrote fiction in his spare time.

Jennifer Egan

American

Contemporary Fiction Literary Fiction

6 books

Jennifer Egan is an American novelist and short-story writer.

His first published book, The Thomas Berryman Number, came out in 1976. The co-author produces a first draft, with Patterson keeping an eye on the story's progression and handling revisions before the book is published.

In 2010, Patterson earned a place in the Guinness World Records as the first author to sell more than 1 million e-books, and his ever-growing number of New York Times best sellers — he'd already accumulated 114 of them according to a May 2015 article in the Times — is another Guinness record.

Whatever the genre, Patterson is known for writing involving, page-turning stories.

Writing Process and Records

Patterson's name appears on more books than most other authors; he released 13 books in both 2013 and 2012, and 14 books in 2011. Everybody's a suspect."

— James Patterson

🏆Edgar Award

🏆International Thriller Writers Award

🏆Children's Choice Book Award

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and...

They're so democratic.