Before moving to the New York area in the 1980s to break into publishing, he previously lived in Seattle, where he did some of his most productive fanzine publishing. He was active in science fiction fandom before he entered professional publishing.

After moving to New York, he worked at Literary Guild as an editorial assistant, then at Chelsea House as an associate editor. He joined Tor Books in the mid-1980s as an assistant and has worked there ever since. He is also a writer, teacher, and musician. He plays guitar and sings on occasion for the New York rock band Whisperado. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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 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 used to be active on the Usenet groups rec.arts.sf.* in the 1990s. Since July 2000 he wrote a blog Electrolite until it was incorporated into his wife's blog Making Light in May 2005, where he now writes along with her, with Viable Paradise co-teacher, SF writer James D. Macdonald, and SF fans Avram Grumer and Abi Sutherland. He supports liberal issues, is critical of George W. Bush's administration and the Iraq War, and has repeatedly criticised Wikipedia's model of operation: "I've joked that Wikipedia's tagline ought to be 'The online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, so long as they're willing to devote hundreds of hours of energy to fighting people with autistically long attention spans.'"

Hugo awards and nominations

• 2010 and 2007 winner for Hugo Award for Best Editor Long Form, also nominated in this category 2008-2009; also 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 nominee for Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor
• 1989 co-nominee for Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine for The New York Review of Science Fiction
• 1986, 1987 nominee for Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer
• 1984 co-nominee, with Teresa Nielsen Hayden, for Hugo Award for Best Fanzine for Izzard

Fanzine Editor, Small Press Publisher & Magazine Editor

He has worked on a number of science fiction fanzines over the years, including Twibbet, Thangorodrim, Tweek, Ecce Fanno, Telos, Zed, 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 1982 to 1987, he edited and published the fanzine Izzard with his wife Teresa Nielsen Hayden.
• 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 still in use today. He left the magazine after several issues.

His entry in "Who's Who in SF Fandom" has a much more detailed list of his fanzine publications.

Anthologies

• Alternate Skiffy (Wildside Press, 1997) with Mike Resnick (ISBN 1-880448-54-8)
• New Skies (Tor, 2003)
• New Magics: An Anthology of Today's Fantasy (Tor, 2004)
• The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy for Teens: First Annual Collection (Tor, 2005) with Jane Yolen

Starlight original science fiction & fantasy anthology series:

• Starlight 1 (Tor, 1996) — won a World Fantasy Award
• Starlight 2 (Tor, 1998)
• Starlight 3 (Tor, 2001)

Short Fiction

• "Binding" in Aladdin: Master of the Lamp, 1992, ed. Mike Resnick & Martin H. Greenberg
• "Sincerity" in More Whatdunits, 1993, ed. Mike Resnick
• "Return" in Xanadu, 1993, ed. Jane Yolen (also available online).