Her novels include Moon Women (2001), Plant Life (2003), and The Big Beautiful (2007).
Her awards include the Sir Walter Raleigh Prize in 2003,[1] and in 2000 she was chosen as one of the Ten Best Emerging Writers in the South.
Her father would go to the library when they were throwing away old books and collect boxes of them to bring back to her.
After graduating from Crest Senior High School, she enrolled in University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she majored in journalism and wrote for The Daily Tar Heel, UNC's student newspaper.
During this time, Duncan worked as a babysitter and as a scout leader at Camp Golden Valley in Bostic, North Carolina.