John Fante (April 8, 1909 - May 8, 1983) was a novelist, short-story and screenwriter, born in Colorado. His most popular novel was Ask the Dust, a semi-autobiographical novel, forming a part of the "Arturo Bandini" series. Arturo Bandini was his alter ego in a total of four novels: Wait Until Spring, Bandini, The Road to Los Angeles, Ask the Dust, and his last novel, Dreams from Bunker Hill, which, due to his blindness, he dictated entirely to his wife, Joyce.

In 1980, the novelist and poet Charles Bukowski pressured Black Sparrow Press to republish the then out-of-print works of Fante by withholding his latest novel from publication. Black Sparrow Press conceded and Fante's popularity experienced a resurgence. Full of Life: The Biography of John Fante was published by Stephen Cooper in 2000, followed by The Fante Reader in 2003.