Francis Henry King CBE (4 March 1923 – 3 July 2011)[1] was a British novelist and short-story writer.

During the Second World War he was a conscientious objector and left Oxford to work on the land.

While he was in Greece he met the uninhibited writer Anne Cumming, who was also working for the British Council.

From 1986 to 1989 he was President of PEN International, the worldwide association of writers and oldest human rights organisation.

After his long-term partner had died from AIDS in 1988, King described their relationship in Yesterday Came Suddenly (1993).