David John Murray Wright (23 February 1920 – 28 August 1994) was an author and "an acclaimed South African-born poet".

His first work, a poem entitled Eton Hall, was published in 1942–43 in the journal Oxford Poetry.

He held strong views about translating Beowulf, choosing to represent it in prose rather than modern verse under the banner "better no colours than faked ones", and criticising the versions of other poets.

[4] He penned an autobiography in 1969, and a biography of fellow South African poet Roy Campbell in 1961.

Wright lived in Braithwaite, just outside Keswick, in the Lake District of England, and became good friends with Norman Nicholson, a fellow poet, and his wife, often visiting each other.