thumb|Patrick Nielsen Hayden, 2008
Patrick James Nielsen Hayden (born Patrick James Hayden January 2, 1959), is an American science fiction editor, fan, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, teacher and blogger. He is a World Fantasy Award and Hugo Award winner (with nine nominations for the latter award), and was an editor and the Manager of Science Fiction at Tor Books until his retirement on January 5, 2026.
Life and career
Born in Lansing, Michigan, he was first active in science fiction fandom while living in Toronto in the early 1970s. He continued in Seattle, before moving to the New York area in the 1980s to work professionally in publishing. After moving to New York, he worked at Literary Guild as an editorial assistant, then at Chelsea House as an associate editor. He changed his last name to "Nielsen Hayden" on his marriage to Teresa Nielsen (now Teresa Nielsen Hayden) in 1979. He joined Tor Books in the mid-1980s as an assistant and worked there until his retirement from Tor Books on January 7, 2026.
He has published a number of essays and reviews. He has contributed to a number of books and magazines, including The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2nd edition, 1993) and The Map: Rediscovering Rock and Roll.
He is one of the regular instructors at Viable Paradise, a science fiction writing workshop held on Martha's Vineyard, and has also taught at both U.S. Clarion Workshops. He has worked on a number of other fanzines over the years, including Twibbet, Thangorodrim, Tweek, Ecce Fanno, Telos, Zed, and Flash Point.
Through their small press, Ansatz Press, Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden published Samuel R. Delany's Wagner/Artaud: A Play of 19th and 20th Century Critical Fictions
From 1985 to 1989, he served on the editorial board of The Little Magazine, a poetry magazine. In 1988, he was one of the founding editors of The New York Review of Science Fiction, for which he did the basic design,
Works
Anthologies
- Alternate Skiffy (Wildside Press, 1997) with Mike Resnick ()
- New Skies (Tor, 2003)
- Starlight 2 (Tor, 1998)
- Starlight 3 (Tor, 2001)