Muriel Miller Branch was born April 10, 1943 in Montclair, New Jersey. At a time when most African Americans were migrating north, her parents, Frank Adolph and Missouri W. Miller, made the bold decision to return to Virginia in 1946. Muriel learned from them to cherish family and self, to love unconditionally, to respect the land, to work hard, to value education, and to stay connected to God. Her family's motto was "Grow where you're planted," so she grew in the inferior, one-room Pine Grove Elementary School in Cartersville, Virginia where she was given the gift of reading. She thrived at the segregated Luther P. Jackson High School in Cumberland County where her love of books helped her escape the confines of her separate but equal world. She was nurtured at the historically black Virginia State College where she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees, and as a member of Zion Baptist Church, she has grown spiritually.

Muriel began her career as a school librarian in 1967, after three years as a research librarian at the American Tobacco Company Department of Research and Development. However, the desire to work with children was greater than the benefits of working in corporate America. Her first assignment was at Maggie L. Walker High School in Richmond, Virginia. She retired from Richmond Public Schools in 1998, and now writes full time.

In 1980, Muriel had a vision that hurled her into the strange new world of writing children's and educational books. Since 1980, her goal has been to tell the neglected or overlooked stories about people and events in African-American and Women's history and culture. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband Willis and her mother, Missouri… two of the greatest sources of inspiration and support.