# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/joseph-heller
# Generated: 2026-09-07T20:53:08.904Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/joseph-heller"
name: "Joseph Heller"
slug: "joseph-heller"
description: "He gave the language a phrase for the impossible trap: \"Catch-22,\" the title of his 1961 debut that turned war's bureaucratic madness into a synonym still used when logic eats itself."
tagline: "American writer"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Joseph_Heller_circa_1979.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1923-05-01"
deathDate: "1999-12-12"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.2
  momentum:             1.68
  historical:           24.380032
  currentAttention:     11.89285714285714
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  75
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Writers"
    slug: "writers"
  - name: "Writer / Author"
    slug: "writer-author"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Screenwriting"
    slug: "screenwriting"
  - name: "Fiction"
    slug: "fiction"
  - name: "Theatre"
    slug: "theatre"
  - name: "Journalism"
    slug: "journalism"
  - name: "Stand Up"
    slug: "stand-up"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0375342/"
    handle:    "nm0375342"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q208101"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Joseph%20Heller"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%81_%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%B1"
    title: "جوزيف هيلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%81_%D9%87%D9%84%D8%B1"
    title: "جوزف هلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%84_%D0%A5%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8A%D1%80"
    title: "Джоузеф Хелър"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%9C%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%AB_%E0%A6%B9%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0"
    title: "জোসেফ হেলার"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller_(Schriftsteller)"
    title: "Joseph Heller (Schriftsteller)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A4%CE%B6%CF%8C%CE%B6%CE%B5%CF%86_%CE%A7%CE%AD%CE%BB%CE%B5%CF%81"
    title: "Τζόζεφ Χέλερ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%81_%D9%87%D9%84%D8%B1"
    title: "جوزف هلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%92'%D7%95%D7%96%D7%A3_%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%A8"
    title: "ג'וזף הלר"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%84_%D0%A5%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8A%D1%80"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://et.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller"
    title: "Joseph Heller"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Joseph Heller was born May 1, 1923, and spent decades as an American author working across novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His first novel, Catch-22, arrived in 1961 as a satire on war and bureaucracy — a book that didn't just succeed but colonized the vocabulary, its title becoming shorthand for absurd or contradictory choices. The Nobel committee noticed: he was nominated for the prize in literature at least twice, in 1972 and 1975. He kept writing until his death on December 12, 1999, but nothing else carried the weight of that first perfect trap.