Zakaria Ali (b. 1946, Negeri Sembilan) is an artist, academic, and writer. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Southwestern University in Texas, US, and went on to pursue a Master’s in Art at the Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas and a second Master’s in Art History at the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico. In 1991, he was awarded his PhD from Harvard University. In 1993, he joined Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang as a lecturer in Art History. His research and teaching have contributed  to the nascent field of Malaysian art history. He is also acclaimed as a writer, having published poems, short stories, novels, essay collections, travelogues, and diaries.