Andrzej Sapkowski (; born 21 June 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer, essayist, translator and a trained economist. He is best known for his six-volume series of books The Witcher, which revolves around the eponymous "witcher," a monster-hunter, Geralt of Rivia. It began with the publication of Blood of Elves (1994) and was completed with the publication of standalone prequel novel Season of Storms (2013). The saga has been popularised through television, cinema, stage, comic books, video games and translated into 37 languages making him the second most-translated Polish science fiction and fantasy writer after Stanisław Lem. He was born in Łódź and initially pursued a career as an economist after graduating from the University of Łódź. He turned to writing, first as a translator and later as an author of fantasy books, following the success of his first short story The Witcher published in 1986 in the Fantastyka magazine. Described as the "Polish Tolkien", he wrote 10 novels and 8 short story collections, which sold over 30 million copies worldwide. The influence of Slavic mythology is seen as a characteristic feature of many of his works. He is a five-time recipient of the Zajdel Award, Poland's most popular science fiction and fantasy prize, as well as many other awards and honours including David Gemmell Award, World Fantasy Life Achievement Award and the Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis. Early life He was born on 21 June 1948 in Łódź. His father served in the Polish People's Army and participated in the Battle of Berlin. After the end of World War II, his parents lived near Nowa Sól before settling in Łódź in Central Poland. He attended the Bolesław Prus High School No. 21. He also studied economics at the University of Łódź, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. He started his literary career as a translator, in particular, of science fiction. Among the first works translated by him was The Words of Guru by Cyril M. Kornbluth. Career Major works He says he wrote his first short story, The Witcher ("Wiedźmin", also translated "The Hexer" or "Spellmaker"), on a whim, in order to enter a contest by Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine Fantastyka. In an interview, he said that being a businessman at the time and thus familiar with marketing, he knew how to