Angela Olive Carter (née Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist. She is celebrated for her works of feminist, magical realism, and picaresque literature. Carter is best known for her book The Bloody Chamber (1979).

In 1984, her short story The Company of Wolves was adapted into a film of the same name. The Times ranked her tenth in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" in 2008. In 2012, Nights at the Circus was selected as the best ever winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Born Angela Olive Stalker in Eastbourne, she was evacuated as a child to Yorkshire with her maternal grandmother. As a teenager, she battled anorexia. She began her career in journalism at the Croydon Advertiser, following in her father's footsteps. Carter attended the University of Bristol where she studied English literature.

She married twice, first in 1960 to Paul Carter. They divorced after twelve years. In 1969, Angela Carter used proceeds from her Somerset Maugham Award to leave her husband and move to Tokyo, Japan, where she claimed to have "learnt what it is to be a woman and became radicalised." Her experiences in Japan were chronicled in articles for New Society and other publications.