Antonio Candido de Mello e Souza (July 24, 1918 – May 12, 2017) was a Brazilian writer, professor, sociologist, and literary critic.

Son of Aristides Candido de Mello e Souza, M.D., and Clarisse Tolentino de Mello e Souza, most of his childhood was spent in the Brazilian countryside, in the states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo.

His best-known work of literary criticism was published in 1959, entitled Formação da Literatura Brasileira (literally, "Formation of Brazilian Literature), a highly polemic and influential study of the foundations of his country's literary arts.

Candido was also active in politics during many periods of his life: he was a militant activist against Getúlio Vargas's Estado Novo and helped to found the Worker's Party in 1980.

Candido married Gilda de Melo e Sousa in 1943, a Brazilian essayist and fellow professor at the University of São Paulo, with whom he had three daughters.