Robert Peake was born and raised on the U.S.-Mexico border, studied poetry at the UC Berkeley and in the Master of Fine Arts In Writing Program at Pacific University, Oregon, and now lives near London, England. His work has been praised as "adept and disarming" as well as "uneasy, affecting, and unforgettable". He has received commendations in the Rattle Poetry Prize, the Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest, the 2007 James Hearst Poetry Prize, the 2009 Indiana Review Poetry Prize, the 2013 Troubadour International Poetry Prize, long-listing in the UK National Poetry Prize, and three Pushcart Prize nominations. He also created the Transatlantic Poetry on Air reading series to bring poets from both sides of the Atlantic together for live online poetry readings.