Edwin O'Connor (July 29, 1918 – March 23, 1968) was an American radio personality, journalist, and novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1962 for The Edge of Sadness (1961). His novels focused on the Irish-American experience and often dealt with the lives of politicians and priests.

O'Connor was born to a medical doctor in Providence, Rhode Island, but was raised in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He was an alumnus of La Salle Academy and the University of Notre Dame. After graduation, he served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II. In 1946 he began working as a free lance author, selling his stories and reports to numerous magazines, including Atlantic Monthly.

In the 1950s, O'Connor began a career as a television critic for two Boston newspapers, a profession he would follow for the rest of his life. He also wrote his first novel, The Oracle (1951). Soon afterward, he wrote the novel for which he is most remembered, The Last Hurrah (1956). The novel concerns a Boston Irish politician, Frank Skeffington, as seen through the eyes of a nephew whom he invites to accompany him on what turns out to be an unsuccessful reelection campaign. Skeffington has a gentlemanly manner, lacing his talk with literary quotations. He is slightly corrupt, but delivers service to his constituents. He is an expert at juggling and balancing the claims of the various Boston-area ethnic groups. But his time has passed, and he loses the election. While not a roman à clef, there are points of similarity between Skeffington and Boston mayor James Michael Curley. This novel was adapted for film in 1958, and O'Connor wrote the screenplay himself. As Charles Fanning notes, "The windfall profits from The Last Hurrah made O'Connor for the first time financially secure."