Robert Jordan biography

Robert Jordan was born on the 17th of October 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2006 he was diagnosed with the rare blood disease amyloidosis and died on September the 16th, 2007. Jordan will be best remembered for his best-selling fantasy series, The Wheel of Time, with 14 million copies having been sold in North America alone.

Robert Jordan (real name James Oliver Rigney Junior) found books and reading at any early age. He had (with the help of his older brother) taught himself to read by the age of four and was reading Mark Twain and Jules Verne by five. It was at this time that he realised that he intended to be a full time writer.

A military career as a helicopter gunner in the United States Army followed. His service included two tours of Vietnam where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses. Jordan was educated at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina where he gained bachelors in mathematics and physics. A career as a nuclear engineer in the United States Navy followed and it was during this time, in 1977, that Robert Jordan began writing.

Jordan chose the fantasy genre for his The Wheel of Time (the name of which comes from Hindu mythology) series because his believed that it allowed him to explore good and evil, right and wrong, honour and duty without having to having to conform the mainstream belief that these were but two sides to the same coin.

The Wheel of Time series for which Robert Jordan is best known was to consist of twelve books. Eleven books had been published at the time of his death and Jordan’s widow, Harriet McDougal, has chosen Brandon Sanderson to write the twelfth book and thereby complete the series. All the important plot details had been shared with his family before his death.

Robert Jordan bibliography

The Wheel of Time series

• The Eye of the World (1990)
• The Great Hunt (1990)
• The Dragon Reborn (1991)
• The Shadow Rising (1992)
• The Fires of Heaven (1993)
• Lord of Chaos (1994)
• A Crown of Swords (1996)
• The Path of Daggers (1998)
• Winter’s Heart (2000)
• Crossroads of Twilight (2003)
• Knife of Dreams (2005)
• A Memory of Light (2009)

Robert Jordan interviews

Robert Jordan interviewed by SFF World in November 2001 in which he talks about why he choose to write fantasy books and the disciplines required to be a full time writer.

A two page interview in which Robert Jordan talks about The Wheel of Time series and the inspirations behind it.

Excerpts taken from Locus Magazine in March 2000

Robert Jordan chats about his "Wheel of Time" series on CNN.com