Clare B. Dunkle is an American children's fantasy author and librarian.

Born Clare Buckalew on June 11, 1964, in Fort Worth, Texas, she grew up in Denton, Texas, located north of Dallas. Clare pursued higher education at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, earning a B.A. in Russian with a minor in Latin. She furthered her studies in library science, obtaining a master's degree from Indiana University.

Clare's career in library science flourished at Trinity University's Coates Library, where she served as the monographs cataloger from 1990 to 1999. She left the library to homeschool her two daughters, Valerie and Elena, before moving her family to Germany in 2000. They lived in the Rheinland Pfalz region, near the historic Roman city of Trier, for seven years before returning to San Antonio in the summer.

Her works contribute greatly to the children's fantasy genre.