Susan Tepper grew up on Long Island where many of the stories in DEER take place. Before settling down to study writing at NYU and New School, she was an actress, flight attendant, marketing manager, tour guide, singer, television producer, interior decorator, rescue worker and more.

Many of her stories, poems and essays have been published in the US and abroad, appearing in fine journals and periodicals including American Letters & Commentary, Salt Hill, Boston Review, Green Mountains Review, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Crannog, Poetry Salzburg, Ibbetson Street Press and elsewhere. Susan has received 5 Pushcart Prize nominations for fiction and poetry, and she curates the reading series FIZZ at KGB Bar in New York City.