She studied law in Passau and Leipzig, passing the Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen – comparable equivalent to the U.S. bar exam – in 2003, and holds a doctorate in international law from Saarland University.

She travelled through Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2001, which became the basis for the book Die Stille ist ein Geräusch.

[1] Among her other books are Das Land der Menschen, Dark Matter, Kleines Konversationslexikon für Haushunde, Gaming Instinct, Ein Hund läuft durch die Republik, Decompression and The Method.

Since January 2019, Zeh is an honorary judge at the Constitutional Court of Brandenburg.

[3][4] She was one of the first signers of the Open letter on the German position regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine in April 2022, who demanded not to support Ukraine with arms in order to "prevent a third world war".