After his discharge from the army in 1965, Biderman returned to San Francisco where he worked at odd jobs, 'hanging out at the Café Trieste with the remnants of the Beats', till going back to his studies at San Francisco State University, eventually gaining a degree in English literature. At university he became an activist in the anti-war movement and was a leading participant in the student strike of 1968. His experiences of May 68 became the basis for his novel, "Koba". It was during that period he met Joy Magezis, also a leading student activist, whom he married in 1970. In 1971 he and Joy took a motorcycle tour of Europe, ending up in London where the couple lived in Rona Road, Camden and where their first child was born. They returned to San Francisco in 1972, settling in the city's Noe Valley district.