Susan Frank spent many of her childhood weekends camping in the Sierra Nevada and fishing California rivers and lakes with her family. She saw her first grizzly bear on the Katmai Peninsula in Alaska at age ten and spent more enjoyable hours waiting for fish to bite her line than actually catching them. After earning a degree in European history from the University of California, Berkeley, she taught in Minnesota and California before starting a career in communications. In 1990 she founded a media and marketing consulting company, working with a variety of clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Susan and Phil started their life together on a houseboat in Sausalito, California. This led to their first book collaboration, a children's book about living on the water. Both avid history buffs, they moved from ship to shore about 10 years ago. Susan lives in Sausalito in a 1914 Craftsman-style home, from which she ventures into California's national parks and other wilderness areas in search of inspiration for new books. Her family includes two grown children, three grandchildren, and Gus, a feisty Cairn Terrier.