Robin Klein was educated at Newcastle Girls' High School. After working as a teacher, nurse, library assistant and craft worker, she became a full-time writer in 1981. Her first book, The Giraffe in Pepperell Street, was published in 1978. She has since written many books for children and young adults, most notably Thing (1982) and Came Back To Show You I Could Fly (1989), both of which won Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards. Klein's books explore themes such as friendship between children and adults, alienation, and disability with styles that range from humour to fantasy.
Klein is the mother of crime writer Peter Klein (q.v.).