Anna Kavan (born Helen Emily Woods; 10 April 1901 – 5 December 1968) was a British novelist, short story writer, and painter. Originally publishing under her first married name, Helen Ferguson, she adopted the name Anna Kavan in 1939 as both her pen name and her legal identity.

Her work is most well-known for the novel Ice (1967), published just a year before her death. Her earlier works, published as Helen Ferguson, provided little indication of the experimental and disturbing nature of her later stories. A significant shift occurred in her writing style and physical appearance after a mental breakdown, during which she renamed herself Anna Kavan after a character in her own novel Let Me Alone.

Around 1926, Kavan became addicted to heroin, a dependency that influenced her life and work.