STEVEN PRESSFIELD (born September 1, 1943) is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays.

He is the author of the novels, Last of the Amazons, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire and Tides of War.

Pressfield was an advertising copywriter, schoolteacher, tractor-trailer driver, bartender, oilfield roustabout, an attendant in a mental hospital, fruit-picker in Washington state, and screenwriter. His struggles to make a living as an author, including the period when he was homeless and living out of the back of his car, are detailed in his 2002 book The War of Art.

Pressfield's first book, The Legend of Bagger Vance, which was loosely based on the Bhagavad Gita, was published in 1995, and was made into a 2000 film of the same name directed by Robert Redford and starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Matt Damon.

His second novel, Gates of Fire (1998), is about the Spartans and the battle at Thermopylae. It is taught at the U.S. Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, and the Marine Corps Basic School at Quantico.

In 2012, Pressfield launched the publishing house Black Irish Books with his agent Shawn Coyne.

He lives in California.