Luke Whisnant (born 1957) is an American novelist, short story writer and poet. His first novel, Watching TV with the Red Chinese, was published in 1992 and was made into a feature film in 2008. Down in the Flood, a collection of short stories, was published in 2006. Whisnant earned his B.A. in English from East Carolina University and his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Washington University in St. Louis. He is Professor of English at East Carolina University, where he also edits Tar River Poetry.