Mercè Rodoreda i Gurguí (October 10, 1908 – April 13, 1983) was a Spanish novelist known for her works in the Catalan language. She is considered the most influential contemporary Catalan language writer, with her works being translated into more than thirty languages.

Rodoreda has been acclaimed as the most important Catalan female novelist of the postwar period. Her novel "La plaça del diamant" (translated as The Time of the Doves, 1962) is the most popular Catalan novel to date and is often regarded as one of the best novels published in Spain after the Spanish Civil War.

Besides her literary achievements, Rodoreda explored painting, which gained recognition posthumously. On writing, she once expressed, "I write because I like to write. If it didn't seem like an exaggeration, I would say that I write to please myself. If others like what I write, the better. Perhaps it is deeper. Perhaps I write to affirm myself. To feel that I am ... And it's over. I have spoken of myself and essential things in my life, with a certain lack of measure. And excess has always scared me."