Carlos Fuentes Macías (November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962), Aura (1962), Terra Nostra (1975), The Old Gringo (1985), and Christopher Unborn (1987).

In his obituary, The New York Times described Fuentes as "one of the most admired writers in the Spanish-speaking world" and an important influence on the Latin American Boom, the "explosion of Latin American literature in the 1960s and '70s", while The Guardian called him "Mexico's most celebrated novelist".

His many literary honors include the Miguel de Cervantes Prize and Mexico's highest award, the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor in 1999. He was often named as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he never won.

Besides being a writer, Fuentes was a passionate critic of history, painting, the plastic arts, and politics. He was a member of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua and held honorary doctorates from several universities, including Harvard, Cambridge, and UNAM.