She was the daughter of Francisco de Paula Lins dos Guimarães Peixoto, a prominent local desembargador (appellate judge) appointed by Dom Pedro II, and Jacyntha Luiza do Couto Brandão.

Cora first began to write poems in her early teenage years at around 14, and later attended the Clube Literário Goiano of Dona Virgínia da Luz Vieira.

Almost all of her books have had more than ten editions, and have continued to be reprinted in the years since her death, and a number of posthumous volumes of her collected writings and personal stories have been published.

At the time, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, a distinguished poet in Brazil well known in Latin America, said: "I admire Cora Coralina and her mastery of living in a state of grace with her poetry.

Two Brazilian animal species, Kora corallina Simone, 2012 (a land snail) and Ischnopelta coralinae Rosso & Campos, 2021 (a shield bug) are named in her honour.