James Samuel Norcliffe (born 3 March 1946) is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer, poet, editor, teacher and educator.

[3] He is a teacher, writer and editor and has published several collections of poetry and a number of novels for children and young adults.

[16] The Assassin of Gleam won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for the best New Zealand fantasy novel of 2006, and was shortlisted for the 2007 LIANZA Esther Glen Medal.

[17][19] In 2003, he and Bernadette Hall received the inaugural Christchurch Press Literary Liaisons Honour Award for 'lasting contribution to literature in the South Island'.

[20] In 2006, he took up the Creative New Zealand Iowa University Fellowship and also took part in the Tasmanian Writers' Island of Residencies programme.