Bruce Clements

Bruce Clements (born November 25, 1931) is an American author of children's books and historical fiction.

Clements was born on November 25, 1931, in New York City, New York, to Paul Eugene, a salesman, and Ruth Clements, an editor. 

He graduated with an A.B. degree from Columbia University, New York, in 1954. He then earned his Master of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Albany, in 1962. 

Growing up, Clements wanted to become a writer, however, he started his career studying theology and becoming a pastor. He was ordained in the United Church of Christ and worked from 1957 to 1964 as a pastor in Schenectady, York State. In 1964-67, he was an instructor at Union College, Schenectady, New York. 

In 1967, Clements became a Professor of English and American Children's and Youth Literature at Eastern Connecticut State College, Willimantic, Connecticut. 

Clements began writing in the late 1960s. A number of his novels focus on the importance of caring for one's fellow man and, by extension, society's need to be tolerant and supportive of other cultures. He has written more than ten children's books; some of his popular books are:

• Prison Window, Jerusalem Blue (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1977)
• Disasters and Public Health: Planning and Response (March 2009)
• From Ice Set Free: The Story of Otto Kiep (January 1972)
• The Treasure of Plunderell Manor (April 1991)
• Two Against the Tide (January 2000)
• I Tell a Lie Every So Often (September 2001)
• Anywhere Else But Here (January 1980)
• A Chapel of Thieves (sequel to I Tell a Lie Every So Often) (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002)
• What Erika Wants (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005)
• Tom Loves Anna Loves Tom (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1990)
• The Face of Abraham Candle (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1969)

I Tell a Lie Every So Often (1974) was a finalist for the National Book Award. The story is based on the 1850 diary of one Thaddeus Culbertson, who Clements fictionalizes as a fourteen-year-old cooper's apprentice named Henry Desant. A Chapel of Thieves (2002) is its sequel.

• National Book Award finalist, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1975
• Best of the Best, 1966-1978 designation, School Library Journal, 1979, both for I Tell a Lie Every So Often.

Clements married Hanna Charlotte Margarete Kiep (born 1933), a community worker, on January 30, 1954. Hanna is the daughter of the German diplomat and resistance fighter Otto Kiep, who was executed in August 1944 as a member of the Solf-Kreis (Solf Circle.)

The Clements reside in Windham, Connecticut, and have four children: Mark, Ruth, Martha, Hanna.