Mildred DeLois Taylor, born September 13, 1943, is a Newbery Award-winning American young adult novelist, best known for her novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, which is part of her Logan family series. Her works explore powerful themes of family and racism faced by African Americans in the Deep South, making them accessible to young readers.

Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi, but spent most of her childhood in Toledo, Ohio. She now resides in Colorado with her daughter. Many of her works are based on family stories she heard growing up, which became vivid in her mind as she realized that adults talked about the past.

Among her numerous accolades, she received the 1977 Newbery Medal, the inaugural NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2003, the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2020, and the Children's Literature Legacy Award in 2021. Taylor is celebrated for helping generations understand the complex history of Black Americans in the Jim Crow South.