Dorothy Lucie Sanders was the daughter of William Joseph (a clergyman and founder of Christ Church Grammar School, Western Australia) and Ada Lucy (Walker) McClemans. She married Colsell Sanders (Professor of Education at UWA and former chairman of Tertiary Education Commission in Western Australia) in 1936 and they had three children: Jonathan William, Colin Creeth and Lucyann, the latter two being twins.

After attending Perth College for ten years and the University of Western Australia as part-time student for four years, Sanders received a Teachers' Certificate from Claremont Teachers' College in 1938. She was a member of the Western Australian State Library Board, the State Advisory Board to Australian Broadcasting Commission, the Perth Children's Court, the Society of Women Writers and Journalists (London), the Australian Society of Authors and the Fellowship of Australian Writers. She was resident in London, UK, during the early 1960s and was a member of the Society for Australian Writers.