Marcia Joan Brown (born July 13, 1918) is an American children's author and illustrator of more than 30 children's books. She has won the Caldecott Medal three times, the only person to do so until David Wiesner in 2007. She is also the winner of the 1977 Regina Medal, a six-time recipient of the Caldecott Honor, and the winner of the 1992 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. Many of her titles have been produced in other languages, including Afrikaans, German, Japanese, Spanish and Xhosa-Bantu.
Born in Rochester, New York, she enrolled in the New York State College for Teachers, the University at Albany's predecessor. Marcia taught at Cornwall High School in New York City, where she began her writing career with the publication of The Little Carousel in 1946.
As she grew up during the Depression, she thought about becoming a doctor. She decided, however, to take up teaching and, later, writing books.