Patty Dann (born October 30, 1953) is an American novelist and nonfiction writer, perhaps best known for Mermaids, a coming-of-age novel about a teenage girl which was published in 1986. In 1990, it was made into a movie starring Cher, Winona Ryder, Bob Hoskins and Christina Ricci. Her most recent novel is Starfish, which is a sequel to Mermaids.