Kira Cochrane (/ˈkɒkrən/ KOK-rən; born 1977) is a British journalist and novelist. She is the Head of Features at The Guardian, and worked previously as Head of Opinion. Cochrane is an advocate for women's rights, as well as an active participant in fourth wave feminist movements.

Kira Cochrane was born and raised in Loughton, Essex. Cochrane and her younger brother were raised by her mother in a single parent household. Her father died of a heart attack in 1979 at age 34; Cochrane was two years old. In 1983, when Cochrane was six years old, her elder brother was killed (age 8) in a traffic accident. She attended Christ's Hospital school, Horsham before studying American Literature at the University of Sussex and the University of California, Davis.

Formerly a journalist at The Sunday Times, Cochrane fills the position as current Head of Features at The Guardian. She was the newspaper's women's editor from 2006 to November 2010, when she was succeeded by Jane Martinson. Cochrane wrote a column for the New Statesman magazine from 2006 to July 2008 and has written occasionally for other news sources such as The Huffington Post.

Since beginning her career with The Guardian in 2006, Cochrane continues to produce content covering women's empowerment and female leaders in progressivism. In a 2017 interview with The Heroine Collective, Cochrane expresses her passion for writing with The Guardian:

"I always felt it was my duty to run pieces about the more enjoyable sides of women's lives, as well as the everyday sexism and horror," she says. "To try and reflect the reality of our experiences."

Kira Cochrane has published four novels, Modern Women 52 Pioneers (2017), All The Rebel Women (2013),The Naked Season (2003), and Escape Routes for Beginners (2004), which appeared on the long list for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction. In 2009, Cochrane herself appeared on the judging panel for that year's Orange Prize for Fiction. She's co-edited (with Eleanor Mills) Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs: 100 Years of the Best Journalism by Women, published in the United States as Journalistas: 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists. She has also edited an anthology of women's writing, which has appeared in The Guardian, Women of the Revolution: Forty Years of Feminism.

As an emerging author, Cochrane turned feminism into fiction in her first novel, The Naked Season.

In her second novel, Kira explores her narrative through the eyes of 13-year-old Rita Mae. Rita questions her parents toxic marriage and wishes to escape the prison-island she resides on. Throughout the novel, Rita uncovers secrets about her family's past. Escape Route for Beginners landed Cochrane as the youngest author nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction, at 27 years old. Cosmopolitan calls it, "Inventive and deliciously dark."