Ivar Kleiven (10 July 1854 – 19 February 1934) was a Norwegian politician, historian and poet.
His parents were Jacob Ivarsson Snerle (later Kleven) (1803–1884) and Brit Knutsdotter Svarvarhaugen (1824–1916).
From 1892, he served as chairman of the school board and from 1900 to 1903 he was a deputy to the Parliament of Norway from the Norwegian Liberal Party.
It was the folk tradition from his home community that was the subject of his first book, Segner from Vågå (1894).
Gamal bondekultur i Gudbrandsdalen, his main work in the stylish and expressive Gudbrandsdal dialect, concerned the old peasant culture in Lillehammer: Lom and Skjåk (1915), Lesja og Dovre (1923), Østre og Vestre Gausdal (1926), Ringebu (1928) and Fronsbygdin (1930).