| The Author
Claude Walker, author of Seminole Smoke: An odyssey of power, love and blood in the Seminole Wars.
Author Claude Walker has long been fascinated by the Seminole Wars, thanks to a history teacher uncle, Distant Drums and getting lost off I-75.
In 2008, Walker participated in the annual Nanowrimo, in which 125,000 writers around the world try to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Walker nosed across the finish line with a pre-version of what became Seminole Smoke: An odyssey of power, love and blood in the Seminole Wars.
In 2001, Walker made literary history with his epic, Currents of Power: A Modern Political Novel, the first political novel with a Latina protagonist. The book also features a character inspired by then-State Senator Barack Obama.
Other published works include essays on Japanese baseball and Mexican travel, a subway haiku and countless op eds. In 2003, Walker was inducted into the Society of Midland Authors.
Claude Walker has spent a lifetime in the rough-and-tumble of Illinois politics as a strategist, organizer and spin-doctor. A veteran of more than 50 campaigns, he served as an advisor to a U.S. Senator, State Treasurer, State Insurance Commissioner and Chicago Alderman, and spokesperson for Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn (now Governor).
Walker was twice-elected State Chairman of Common Cause-Illinois, and spent years as a lobbyist and organizer for the Illinois Citizens Utility Board (CUB). He has testified on such issues as campaign finance reform, refugee protections, winter heat shutoffs and currency exchange reform.
Walker runs "Claudio's Museum of Political, Sports and Cultural Stuff", a 3,000-item memorabilia collection.
A graduate of Loyola University of Chicago, Walker also attended Northern Illinois University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Driscoll High School in Addison, IL. He is an active kayaker & snorkeler, artist, musician, former Chicago cabbie and diehard Cubs fan.
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