Joe Richard Lansdale (born October 28, 1951) is an American writer and martial arts instructor. He is renowned for his work across various genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense. Additionally, he has contributed to the world of comic books and screenplays. Several of his novels have been adapted for film and television, showcasing his versatile storytelling abilities.

Lansdale is a highly decorated author, having won the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and eleven Bram Stoker Awards. His prolific career includes over forty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as various foreign publications.

He has also ventured into editing, co-editing over a dozen anthologies, and his efforts have been recognized with the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, and the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy.