Dane Zajc ( pronunciation (help·info)) (26 October 1929 – 20 October 2005) was a Slovenian poet and playwright. He served as president of the Slovene Writers' Association (1991–1995), and was awarded the prestigious Prešeren Award for lifetime achievement (1981). Together with Edvard Kocbek and Gregor Strniša, he is considered as the most important Slovenian poet of the second half of the 20th century.

He was born as Danijel Zajc in the Upper Carniolan village of Zgornja Javoršica near Moravče, in a relatively wealthy peasant family. He was traumatized by the experience of World War II. At the age of 13, he witnessed the brutal death of his father, when the Nazis burned his native house, throwing his father in the flames. Two of his brothers fell in the partisan resistance. During the war years, he dropped out of school. He continued his education after 1945, first in a special course for young war victims in Domžale, and then in Kamnik and Gornja Radgona.

In 1947, he enrolled to the Poljane Grammar School in Ljubljana. During this time, he befriended several young writers and poets. Together with Lojze Kovačič, Viktor Blažič in Janez Menart, he founded the youth literary magazine called Mi, mladi (We, the Young), where he published his first poems.