Karl Arthur Marlantes is an American author and Vietnam War veteran. Born on December 24, 1944, he has written several acclaimed books, including Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War (2010), What It Is Like to Go to War (2011), Deep River (2019), and Cold Victory (2024).

Marlantes is a graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. During his service as a Marine in Vietnam, he was awarded numerous honors, including the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten Air Medals.

His novel Matterhorn received widespread acclaim, winning the William E. Colby Award given by the Pritzker Military Library, the Center For Fiction's Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, the 2011 Indies’ Choice Award for Adult Debut Book of the Year, and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s James Webb Award for Distinguished Fiction.

Currently, Karl Marlantes resides in rural Washington.