Claire Rudolf Murphy

Claire Rudolf Murphy is the author of seventeen books of fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults, including Children of Alcatraz: Growing Up on the Rock; Daughters of the Desert: Remarkable Women of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim Traditions; and her latest Marching With Aunt Susan: Susan B. Anthony and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage. Upcoming titles include My Country Tis of Thee: Song of Patriotism, Song of Protest, illustrated by the Caldecott honor illustrator Bryan Collier. Her awards include a Contribution to Literacy Award from the Alaskan Center for Books, a Willa Cather Award, a Sequoyah Children’s Book Award, and an “Outstanding Author” award from the Washington Organization of Reading Development. Other awards include: Amelia Bloomer Project award; Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People; Kansas state reading award; South Carolina book award; Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award; IRA Teacher Choice award; New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age.

She has an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and taught creative writing for many years for the Alaska State Writing Consortium and Eastern Washington University. After living for twenty-four years in Alaska, she and her husband now live in Spokane, Washington and have two grown children. 

Watch the book trailer for Marching with Aunt Susan: