Dorothy Bryant is a native San Franciscan, the daughter of immigrants from northern Italy. She attended public schools in the Mission District, then San Francisco State University, completing a BA in music (1950) and an MA in creative writing (1964). From 1953 to 1976 she taught music and English in Bay Area high schools and colleges, spending the most time at Contra Costa College, after moving to Berkeley in 1964. She began writing fiction and articles in 1960.