Leslie Payne (July 12, 1941 – March 19, 2018) was an American journalist. He served as an editor and columnist at Newsday and was a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists. In his retirement, he co-wrote a biography of Malcolm X, which was published in 2020 as The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X and won that year's National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. The book is framed by essays from Tamara Payne, Payne’s daughter and primary researcher, who completed the biography after her father’s death.

Payne was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1941. In 1954, Payne moved with his mother to Hartford, Connecticut, where she remarried. According to DNA analysis, he was descended in part from people from Cameroon.

The first member of his family to attend college, Payne graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1964 with a degree in English. He was interested in pursuing a career in journalism, but as an African American, he found no opportunities in the mainstream press. Instead, Payne joined the army, where he eventually became a captain. He ended his army career with two years as an information officer, writing speeches for General William Westmoreland and running the army newspaper.