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Born in 1937 in Smithfield, Virginia, Batten grew up in a farm, where, as a child, she learnt about nature by playing in the woods and near the forest streams. Batten started writing when she was around the age of 7 or 8. In an interview, she revealed that she had wanted to become a writer since she was a child.

Batten went to University of North Carolina from 1955 to 1957. The following two years, she worked as a library clerk at New York Public Library before earning a B.A at New School for Social Research in 1959 and an M.A at Columbia University in 1962.

Batten lives with her husband, Ed Bland, who works as a composer. They have two grown children, Robert Bland, a writer, and Stefanie Batten Bland, a dancer.

Batten's writings focus mostly on environmental and natural issues, including ecology, animals, plants, etc In order to write, she has visited many tropical rainforests, astronomical observatories, scientific laboratories, and medical research centers. Batten has confirmed that she only writes non-fiction books, and that she feels "lucky to be a science writer" because [she] can follow [her] curiosity". Although Batten does not write fiction books, her writings are influenced by fiction author Flannery O'Connor, as well as non-fiction authors Stephen Jay Gould and Edward O. Wilson.

In 2001, Batten published Anthropologist: Scientist of the People, which became one of her most successful works, winning the 2002 "Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children citation" given by National Science Teachers Association. Several other books of hers are also recommended by National Science Teachers Association: Who Has A Belly Button, Aliens from Earth , Hey, Daddy! Animal Fathers and Their Babies, The Winking, Blinking Sea: All about Bioluminescence. Among them, Hey, Daddy! Animal Fathers and Their Babies, published in 2002, was named "Outstanding Science Read Aloud 2003" by American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Batten has written many nature documentaries for television, including the Wild, Wild World of Animals series. She also writes for National Geographic and Walt Disney Educational Films. Batten received a nomination for an Emmy Award for her work on a Children’s Television Workshop science series, 3-2-1 Contact.

Batten is editor-in-chief of Breastlink.org, a website dedicated to victims of breast cancer and their families.