Born in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, Wright spent most of her childhood in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother, the portrait artist Edith Stevenson Wright, while her brother, Blaine, went to live with his father, Ivan Wright, a theater critic in New York City. The siblings did not meet again until Dare moved to New York City in her twenties. In 1957, she photographed her childhood Lenci doll, Edith, along with two teddy bears bought at FAO Schwarz, for her first children's book, titled The Lonely Doll. The book made The New York Times Best Seller list for children's books, and was followed by eighteen other stories. Out of print for many years, it was reissued in 1998, introducing Wright to a new generation of readers. Make Me Real, which features another of Wright's childhood dolls, and Ocracoke in The Fifties, her only book written for adults, have been published posthumously.

Wright died on January 25, 2001 at the age of 86 in Manhattan. She had been admitted to Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island in May 1995 after suffering respiratory failure and being placed on a ventilator.Presently, only one biography of Dare Wright has been written.

Bibliography==

• The Lonely Doll. Doubleday, (1957)
• Holiday for Edith and the Bears. Doubleday, (1958)
• The Little One. Doubleday, (1959)
• The Doll and the Kitten. Doubleday, (1960)
• Date with London. Random House, (1961)
• The Lonely Doll Learns a Lesson. Doubleday, (1961)
• Lona, a Fairy Tale. Random House, (1963)
• Edith and Mr. Bear. Random House, (1964)
• Take Me Home. Random House, (1965)
• A Gift from the Lonely Doll. Random House, (1966)
• Look at a Gull. Random House, (1967)
• Edith and Big Bad Bill. Random House, (1968)
• Look at a Colt. Random House, (1969)
• The Kitten's Little Boy. Four Winds Press, (1971)
• Edith and Little Bear Lend a Hand. Random House, (1972)
• Look at a Calf. Random House, (1974)
• Look at a Kitten. Random House, (1975)
• Edith and Midnight. Doubleday, (1978)
• Edith and the Duckling. Doubleday, (1981)

Books still in print

• The Lonely Doll. Doubleday, (1957)
• Edith and Mr. Bear. Random House, (1964)
• A Gift from the Lonely Doll. Random House, (1966)

Newly Published

• Make Me Real. Xlibris. (2007)
• Ocracoke In the Fifties. John F. Blair, (2006)