Historical fiction is a sub-genre of fiction that often portrays fictional accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events. Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, nominally attempt to capture the spirit, manners, and social conditions of the persons or time(s) presented in the story, with due attention paid to period detail and fidelity. Historical fiction is found in books, magazines, art, television, movies, games, theater, and other media.
Historical fiction presents readers with a story that takes place during a notable period in history, and usually during a significant event in that period. Historical fiction often presents actual events from the point of view of people living in that time period.

In some historical fiction, famous events appear from points of view not recorded in history, showing historical figures dealing with actual events while depicting them in a way that is not recorded in history. Other times, the historical event complements a story's narrative, occurring in the background while characters deal with events (personal or otherwise) wholly unrelated to recorded history. Sometimes, the names of people and places have been in some way altered. As this is fiction, artistic license is permitted in regard to presentation and subject matter, so long as it does not deviate in significant ways from established history. If events should deviate significantly, the story may then fall into the genre of alternate history, which is known for speculating on what could have happened if a significant historical event had gone differently. On a similar note, events occurring in historical fiction must adhere to the laws of physics. Stories that extend into the magical or fantastic are often considered a historical fantasy.
Historical literature includes the works of authors that epitomize a specific period in history. Historical literature has been written since at least the 11th century BC.

- Egyptian Story of Wenamun (11th century BC)
- Augustan History (4th century AD)
- The Waverley Novels, by Sir Walter Scott (over 40 distinct books)
- Pharaoh, by Bolesław Prus
- Mr. Tucket, by Gary Paulsen
- Memoirs of Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar
- I, Claudius, by Robert Graves
- The Bull from the Sea, by Mary Renault
- The Man on a Donkey, by H. F. M. Prescott

Authors

- Dianne Ascroft: Hitler and Mars Bars - Fiction set against the backdrop of Irish Red Cross project, Operation Shamrock.
- Jean M. Auel: The Earth's Children - Series set in pre-historic Europe
- Adam Bagdasarian: Forgotten Fire
- L. E. Butler: Relief
- Caleb Carr: Wrote The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness
- Willa Cather: Death Comes for the Archbishop, Shadows on the Rock, My Antonia
- James Clavell: The Asian Saga
- Bernard Cornwell: Sharpe series set in 19th century Europe and India, and other works set elsewhere.
- Naomi C. Desiderio: Hell at Sea is set aboard a German U-Boat during WWII.
- E. L. Doctorow: Ragtime
- Suzannah Dunn: The Queen's Sorrow and others
- Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, 1980)
- Shusaku Endo: Silence
- Karen Essex: Author of Leonardo's Swans, Stealing Athena, Kleopatra and Pharaoh.
- Ken Follett: most of his books are historical fiction, including his bestseller The Pillars of the Earth.
- C. S. Forester: Hornblower series and others
- George Macdonald Fraser: The Flashman Series
- Noah Gordon: The Physician / The Shaman
- Philippa Gregory mckaddams: The Other Boleyn Girl, The Constant Princess set in the Tudor era; Earthly Joys set in 17th century England, and other works.
- W.E.B. Griffin: The Corps Series - Historical fiction series taking place shortly before WWII, through to Korea.
- Cynthia Harrod-Eagles: The Morland Dynasty - Historical fiction series from the War of the Roses currently to World War I
- Angela Elwell Hunt: Legacies of the Ancient River series/The Keepers of the Ring series/The Heirs of Cahira O'Connor series/Magdalene
- Jessica James: Author of Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia - Historical fiction set during the Civil War.
- Gary Jennings: Aztec, The Journeyer
- Morgan Llywelyn: author of books set mostly in Ireland
- Lloyd Lofthouse: Used Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet as protagonist for My Splendid Concubine
- Colleen McCullough: Masters of Rome series of novels about the last years of the Roman Republic
- Carolyn Meyer: "Young Royals" and others
- James Michener: 40+ epic novels, first famous work was Tales of the South Pacific.
- Anchee Min: Chinese-themed sagas Empress Orchid, The Last Emperor
- William Napier: wrote Attila trilogy
- Mary Novik: author of Conceit, a novel about the family of John Donne, set in 17th century London
- Patrick O'Brian: Series of novels featuring Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Seen as one of the greatest recent exponents of the genre.
- Scott O'dell: Island of the Blue Dolphins
- Arturo Pérez-Reverte: Spanish author of a number of historical novels, including the Captain Alatriste series. His books are written in Spanish, but a number have been translated into English.
- Jean Plaidy: several books, mostly about European queens and princesses
- H. F. M. Prescott: author of The Man on a Donkey - set during the dissolution of the monasteries.
- Chris Priestley: Battle of Britain
- Linda Proud: author of The Botticelli Trilogy - set in Renaissance Florence.
- Boleslaw Prus: Pharaoh
- Erich Maria Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front, The Night in Lisbon.
- Mary Renault: wrote many novels set in ancient Greece
- Ann Rinaldi: 40+ young adult historical fiction novels, primarily set in the United States.
- Edward Rutherfurd: several epic novels including Sarum, Russka, and London
- Simon Scarrow: Eagle series of Roman military fiction
- Lawrence Schonover: The Schonover Collection European Historical and Biographical Novels fiction "Spain" and "Turkey"
- Henryk Sienkiewicz: Quo Vadis
- Anne Easter Smith: Wars of the Roses series
- Wilbur Smith: Ancient Egypt series
- Indu Sundaresan: The Twentieth Wife and sequel The Feast of Roses, fictionalized story of the Mughal empress Noor Jehan, set in 16th and 17th century Mughal Empire, India.
- Beverly Swerling: City of Dreams, City of Glory, Shadowbrook, and the forthcoming City of God" - novels set in early days of the Mid-Atlantic States.
- Harry Turtledove: Alternate history fiction
- Mark Twain: various works of historical fiction about the American South.
- Mika Waltari: numerous works of historical fiction, best known for his magnum opus The Egyptian (Finnish: Sinuhe egyptiläinen)
- Jack Whyte: Camulod Chronicles / A Dream of Eagles, set in early fifth century Britain; also Templar Trilogy.
- Lauren Willig: Pink Carnation series about spies during the Napoleonic wars
- Marguerite Yourcenar: author of Memoirs of Hadrian.
- Margaret Atwood: Penelopiad
- Julian Barnes: Arthur & George
- S. J. A. Turney: Marius' Mules, based on Caesar's invasion of Gaul.