Major works He says he wrote his first
short story, ''
(1986), ("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 sell, and indeed, he won third prize. The story was published in Fantastyka'' in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a
cycle of tales based on the world of "The Witcher", comprising three collections of short stories and eight novels. This cycle and his other works have made him one of the best-known
fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s. The main character of "The Witcher" is
Geralt of Rivia, trained as a monster hunter since childhood. Geralt exists in a morally ambiguous universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to
Raymond Chandler's signature character
Philip Marlowe. The world in which these adventures take place is heavily influenced by
Slavic mythology. In her review of
Blood of Elves, Alice Wybrew of
Total Sci-Fi writes that "Moving effortlessly between moments of wrought emotion and staggeringly effective action, to lengthy periods of political discussion and
war stratagems, Sapkowski addresses every aspect of a good fantasy novel eloquently and with ease. His style reads as easily as
David Gemmel, but hits harder and deeper than his late fantasy comrade. Creating a world that is both familiar and comfortable, it is through his inventive use of character manipulation that he generates a new and realistic experience". Alex Jay of
Polygon further observes that within Sapkowski's fantasy tales, "there are parallels to the complicated history of ethnic strife and resistance to oppression in
Central and
Eastern Europe". The depictions of the disputes between nonhumans and humans "echo real-world disputes over territory and citizenship that draw dividing lines according to race, nationality, or ethnicity". In 2001, he published the ''
Manuscript Found in a Dragon's Cave'', an original and personal guide to
fantasy literature. It was written in the form of an
encyclopaedia and the author discusses in it the history of the
literary genre, well-known fantasy heroes, descriptions of magic terminology as well as major works of notable writers including
J. R. R. Tolkien's
The Hobbit and
The Lord of the Rings,
Robert E. Howard's
Conan,
C. S. Lewis's
The Chronicles of Narnia,
Ursula K. Le Guin's
Earthsea,
Roger Zelazny's
The Chronicles of Amber,
J. K. Rowling's
Harry Potter, and
George R. R. Martin's
A Song of Ice and Fire. Sapkowski's next book series was the
Hussite Trilogy set in the 15th century at the time of the
Hussite Wars with Reinmar of Bielawa as the main protagonist. Mariusz Czubaj writes: Although the
Hussite Trilogy proved less popular compared to
The Witcher, it has been described as the author's "
magnum opus". Published between 2002 and 2006, the series was released as an
audiobook in 2019. In August 2023, Sapkowski announced he was working on a new novel from
The Witcher universe during an on-line meeting with his Ukrainian fans. He added that his work on the book "may take a year, but no longer" giving it a potential expected publication date at some point in 2024. The novel, titled
Rozdroże Kruków, was published in Poland in November 2024, and released internationally as
Crossroads of Ravens in September 2025.
Legal dispute with CD Projekt In October 2018, he sent an open letter to
CD Projekt demanding 60 million zloty ($16.1 million) in
royalty payments from the company for using the Witcher universe in their computer games. The letter was written despite the fact that Sapkowski had sold the video game rights to the Witcher for a single sum, rather than through a royalties contract. Sapkowski and his lawyers based their claims on Article 44 of the
Copyright and Related Rights Act. On 20 December 2019, the writer and the company resolved the dispute with an amicable settlement. The company stated this deal was made in an effort "to maintain good relations with authors of works which have inspired CD Projekt Red's own creations." The details of this arrangement were not made public. ==Personal life==