Barbara Wersba (August 19, 1932 Chicago - February 18, 2018 Englewood, New Jersey) was an American youth and children's book author.

After graduation, she returned to Greenwich Village and took acting lessons with Paul Mann.

In 1977 she was nominated for the prestigious National Book Award for Tunes for a Small Harmonica.

In addition, Wersba worked for many years as an author for the New York Times Review of Books.

At the center of her novels are often sensitive, often artistically gifted young people who feel misunderstood in their family environment, and find encouragement and self-affirmation in friendships with more unconventional, sometimes significantly older people.