Kate Bernheimer's first two novels, The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold (2001) and The Complete Tales of Merry Gold (2006), were published by Fiction Collective 2. Her short-story collection Horse, Flower, Bird was published in Fall 2010 by Coffee House Press. She is also the author of an acclaimed book for children, The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum, chosen as a best picture book of the year by Publishers Weekly in 2008.

Bernheimer is founder and editor of the journal Fairy Tale Review as well as a number of fairy-tale anthologies, including Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (Doubleday, 2002) and Brothers and Beasts (Wayne State University Press, 2007).

She has a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from the University of Arizona.