Daniel Clarence Quinn (October 11, 1935 – February 17, 2018) was an American author (primarily, novelist and fabulist), cultural critic, and publisher of educational texts, best known for his novel Ishmael, which won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award in 1991 and was published the following year. Quinn's ideas are popularly associated with environmentalism, though he criticized this term for portraying the environment as separate from human life, thus creating a false dichotomy. Instead, Quinn referred to his philosophy as "new tribalism".

Quinn embarked on a varied career before becoming a celebrated author. After completing his education at universities in St. Louis, Vienna, and Loyola of Chicago, he entered the world of publishing in Chicago. Within a few years, he was heading the Biography & Fine Arts Department of the American Peoples Encyclopedia. However, when his department was absorbed by a larger entity and relocated to New York, Quinn chose to stay behind, transitioning into educational publishing with roles at Science Research Associates (a division of IBM) and eventually becoming the Editorial Director of The Society for Vision Education (a division of the Singer Corporation).

In 1977, sensing a misalignment with his aspirations, Quinn left his successful career in publishing. This pivotal moment marked the beginning of his journey towards becoming a writer whose works would inspire and challenge conventional thought.