Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.
Fast spent World War II working with the United States Office of War Information, writing for Voice of America. In 1943, he joined the Communist Party USA and was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1950. He refused to disclose the names of contributors to a fund for a home for orphans of American veterans of the Spanish Civil War and he was given a three-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress.
While he was at Mill Point Federal Prison, Fast began writing his most famous work, Spartacus, a novel about an uprising among Roman slaves. Blacklisted by major publishing houses following his release from prison, Fast was forced to publish the novel himself.
Dalton Trumbo, also blacklisted, wrote the script for the film adaptation of Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick.