Most “Star Wars books” were written by a large group of tie‑in novel authors, but the very first Star Wars novel was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster from George Lucas’s movie script and credited to Lucas himself. George Lucas created Star Wars and wrote the original film’s story and screenplay, but he did not go on to write the many Expanded Universe/novel series that fans usually mean when they say “Star Wars books.”

Core answer

When people ask “who wrote the Star Wars books,” they are usually talking about two related things:

  • The original movie novelization.
  • The huge line of Star Wars novels set in the same universe.

For the original 1977 film, the book titled Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker was published under George Lucas’s name but was in fact ghostwritten by science‑fiction author Alan Dean Foster. Foster later confirmed that he wrote that first Star Wars novelization based on Lucas’s script.

Key early Star Wars book authors

Here are some of the most important early Star Wars prose authors often mentioned by fans and official sources:

  • Alan Dean Foster – Ghostwriter of the first Star Wars novelization and later author of other Star Wars novels, making him one of the earliest “Star Wars book” writers.
  • Donald F. Glut – Wrote the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back.
  • James Kahn – Wrote the novelization of Return of the Jedi.

Over time, dozens of additional authors wrote Expanded Universe (later called “Legends”) and current canon novels, including writers like Timothy Zahn, James Luceno, John Jackson Miller, and many more, which is why there is no single person who “wrote the Star Wars books.”

How fans usually phrase it

In fan discussions and forums, you will often see answers along the lines of: George Lucas created Star Wars, but he never actually wrote a Star Wars novel; the first book was written (ghostwritten) by Alan Dean Foster, and the rest of the Star Wars novels come from a long list of different authors working with Lucasfilm’s publishing program.

TL;DR:

  • Creator of Star Wars: George Lucas (films, story, universe).
  • First Star Wars book (1976 novelization): written by Alan Dean Foster, credited to Lucas.
  • Most Star Wars books: written by many different licensed authors over the years, not by Lucas himself.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.