She has published works of poetry as well as a book on the history of crossword puzzles.

Raphel was born in New Jersey but grew up in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, from age ten.

[1] She attended the private school St. Johnsbury Academy, writing a puzzle pamphlet as a capstone project in her senior year in 2006.

[1][2] She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University in 2010, Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and PhD in English from Harvard University.

[5][6] Raphel writes about the history of crossword puzzles in Thinking Inside the Box (2020), published by Penguin Group.