Kate Peper grew up in Minnesota and moved to California in 1994 to work as a free-lance animator in the then-thriving educational games industry. She later went back to school to learn surface and pattern design and for a time designed high-end carpets in San Francisco. Though poetry is a constant preoccupation, she also works on honing her watercolor technique and indulges an unhealthy fascination with gardening. She has taught creative writing as part of California Poets in the Schools as well as to older adults in retirement communities. She lives just north of San Francisco with her husband Bruce and semi-feral dog Hannah.