Peg Kehret has always loved to write. As a child, she wanted to be either a writer or a veterinarian; now she includes animals in most of her books. She grew up in Austin, Minnesota, and had a happy and normal childhood except for a bout with polio which paralyzed her from the neck down and hospitalized her for nine months. However, she made nearly a complete recovery. She graduated from Austin High School and attended the University of Minnesota for one year.
She married Carl Kehret in 1955, and moved to California two years later. They adopted two children, Bob and Anne. As a young mother, Peg completed one more year of college. In 1970, Peg and Carl moved to Washington State where she still lives.
Before Peg began writing books for children, she wrote radio commercials, plays, and magazine stories. She also published two nonfiction adult books. Her first book for kids (Winning Monologs for Young Actors) was published in 1985. Since then she has published many popular books for young people.
Peg Kehret has won dozens of state Young Reader awards as well as the PEN Center Award in Children’s Literature, the Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and the Henry Bergh Award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA.)
For many years Peg and Carl traveled around the U.S. in their motorhome with their pets on board so that she could speak at schools, libraries, and children’s literature conferences.
Carl died in 2004. They were married for forty-eight happy years. Peg’s children are grown, and she has four grandchildren – Brett, Chelsea, Eric, and Mark – and a great-grandson, Seth, all of whom live in Washington State.
Peg is a long-time volunteer for animal welfare causes, currently helping Left Behind K-9 Rescue and the Northwest Spay Neuter Center.
Peg’s home is a log house on a ten acre wildlife sanctuary near Mount Rainier National Park. She often sees deer and elk from her window. Peg likes to read, cheer for the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Mariners, work crossword and jigsaw puzzles, and bake cookies. Peg is the steward for a Little Free Library. She lives with her cat, Lovey.
PEG KEHRET Important dates
Born: In 1936, in LaCrosse, WI. Her parents were Beth and Bob Schulze
Diagnosed with polio: 1948
Graduated from high school: 1954
Married Carl Kehret: July 2, 1955
Son born: 1959
Daughter born: 1961
First book published: 1979
First book for children published: 1985
First Children’s Book Award: 1986
Births of grandchildren: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992
Death of Carl: April 28, 2004
Birth of Great Grandchild: 2011