Michael Downing (May 8, 1958 - February 9, 2021) was an American writer and academic. A longtime professor of creative writing at Tufts University, he was most noted for his 1999 novel Breakfast with Scot, which was a Stonewall Book Award nominee in 2001 and was adapted by Canadian film director Laurie Lynd into the 2007 film Breakfast with Scot.