Niko Grafenauer (born 5 December 1940) is a Slovenian poet, essayist, literary historian, editor and translator.

He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), to a poor working-class family.

He enrolled at the University of Ljubljana, where he studied history of literature, graduating in 1969 under the supervision of the famous literary historian and philosopher Dušan Pirjevec.

Grafenauer started with children's literature, the most famous of which was the collection Pedenjped, about a naughtly, stubborn, clumsy but independent and creative boy.

[2] He lives in Ljubljana, and is active member of several civil society movements, most notably the Rally for the Republic.