Penelope Niven received a bachelor's degree from Greensboro College and a master's degree in English from Wake Forest University. She wrote several books during her lifetime including Carl Sandburg: A Biography, Steichen: A Biography, Thornton Wilder: A Life, and Swimming Lessons. She co-wrote Voices and Silences with James Earl Jones. She won the International Reading Association Prize for Carl Sandburg: Adventures of a Poet in 2003 and the North Carolina Award in Literature. She was the writer-in-residence at Salem College for 12 years. She died on August 29, 2014 at the age of 75.