Before her writing career, Peelle worked as a speechwriter for Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee.

Her short fiction has appeared in Granta, Orion, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere.

[1] The short story “Mule Killers” was published in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2006 as judged by Kevin Brockmeier, Francine Prose, and Colm Tóibín, and edited by Laura Furman.

[5] Peelle was named for her great-great-aunt, abolitionist Lydia Maria Child.

She married musician and bandleader Ketch Secor[8] on November 3, 2001 in North Andover, Massachusetts.