Henry Payson Dowst (1876–1921) was an American novelist and short-story writer active in the early twentieth century. Born on December 15, 1876, in Bangor, Maine and educated at Bangor High School, Dowst was a graduate of the Harvard class of 1899, and lived briefly in Calais, Maine, before becoming General Manager of the Boston publishing house Maynard & Co. In 1916 he went to work for a New York advertising agency, Frank Seaman, Inc., where he remained until his death at age 45. Dowst died in New York but was buried in Bangor.