José Martiniano de Alencar (May 1, 1829 – December 12, 1877) was a Brazilian lawyer, politician, orator, novelist and dramatist.

He is considered to be one of the most famous and influential Brazilian Romantic novelists of the 19th century, and a major exponent of the literary tradition known as "Indianism".

His family was a rich and influential clan in Northeastern Brazil, his grandmother being famous landowner Barbara Pereira de Alencar, heroine of the Pernambucan Revolution.

It was in the Diário do Rio de Janeiro, during the year of 1856, that Alencar gained notoriety, writing the Cartas sobre A Confederação dos Tamoios, under the pseudonym Ig.

Also in 1856, he wrote and published under feuilleton form his first romance, Cinco Minutos, that received critical acclaim.

[1] He also planned to be a senator, but Pedro II never appointed him, under the pretext of Alencar being too young;[2] with his feelings hurt, he would abandon politics later.