Raymond E. Feist

Raymond Elias Feist (born 1945, Los Angeles, California) is an American author, mostly specialising in fantasy fiction.

Feist was raised in Southern California. He was born with the surname Gonzales, before being adopted by Felix E. Feist.

He graduated with a B.A. in Communication Arts with Honors in 1977 from the University of California at San Diego. During that year Feist had some ideas for a novel about a boy who would be a magician. He wrote the novel two years later, and it was published in 1982.

Feist currently lives in San Diego with his children, where he collects fine wine, DVDs, and books on a variety of topics of personal interest: wine, biographies, history, and the history of American Professional Football.

Many of Feist's works have been set in the interconnected worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. Midkemia was originally created as an alternative to the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. When Feist studied at the University of California, San Diego, he and his friends created a new role-playing game based on the world of Midkemia.

Photo: Autograph session with Raymond Elias Feist at Salon du livre 2008 (Paris, France). Photo author: Georges Seguin. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons.