Claudia Durst Johnson was born in North Carolina and grew up in South Carolina. When she was eighteen, she moved to the Midwest where she eventually received her Ph.D. in English at the University of Illinois in Urbana. Afterward she spent 23 years at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, serving as chair of the English Department for eleven years. While there, she held every office in what was then a very vigilant faculty senate. Her career as a researcher and writer blossomed there and, since she retired from teaching, she continues to work as a freelance writer, editor, and lecturer in her residence near the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Johnson is available for speaking engagements on a wide range of books including To Kill a Mockingbird, Red Badge of Courage, and The Scarlet Letter. Her previous speaking engagements include an Air Force Academy, the Chicago Public Library, and venues in Missouri, Wyoming, New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Indiana, Texas, Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado and Montana.
Please email clillianjohn@hotmail.com for more information.