Yvonne Battle-Felton was born in Pennsylvania, raised in New Jersey and lived in Maryland for 20 years before moving to the UK. She holds an MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing and Creative Industries at Sheffield Hallam University.

In 2017, Yvonne won the Northern Writer's Fiction Award for Remembered, was commended for children's writing at the Faber Andlyn BAME (FAB) Prize and was shortlisted for the Words and Women Competition. Most recently, she was shortlisted for the Sunderland University Waterstones SunStory Award.