Joe William Haldeman was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on June 9, 1943. He received a BS in Astronomy from the University of Maryland in 1967. That same year, he was drafted into the Army and served as a combat engineer in Vietnam. Wounded in combat, he used his wartime experiences as inspiration for his first novel, War Year (1972). In 1975, he received a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop.

Haldeman's most famous science fiction novel is The Forever War (1975), an exploration of war and its influence on the soldiers that fight it, which won Hugo, Nebula, and Ditmar Awards. Its thematic followup, Forever Peace (1997), won the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Awards in 1998, the first such "triple crown" in 22 years. However, the author considers the trilogy of Worlds (1981), Worlds Apart (1983), and Worlds Enough and Time (1992) to be his best work. More recently, the novel Camouflage (2004) won the Nebula and James Tiptree Awards. His next novel, The Accidental Time Machine, will be published by Ace in late 2007.

Haldeman wrote two of the earliest original novels based on Star Trek, Planet of Judgment (1977) and World Without End (1979). He also wrote the screenplay for the low-budget scence fiction film, Robot Jox (1990).

He currently resides in Gainesville, Florida and Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife Gay Haldeman, and teaches writing as an Adjunct Professor at MIT.

Official Website