After finishing her studies at the University of Missouri, Peden joined the Romance Languages Department, where she taught until her retirement.[6]
Peden's work covers nearly every genre — poetry, novel, theater and belles lettres — from the 16th century to today. Peden received her bachelor's (1948), master's (1963) and doctorate (1966) from the University of Missouri. She started translating while working toward her doctorate in 1964. Peden was writing on MexicanplaywrightEmilio Carballido and came across a small novel Carballido had written. Peden shared the book with her former late husband, William Peden, who said, "You know I don't read Spanish. Why don't you translate it for me?" So she did.[7]
Carballido's The Norther (El Norte) became her first published translation in 1970. She continued translating and teaching at the University of Missouri until she retired from teaching in 1989. She still translated works until her death.
In 2012, she received the Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation from the PEN American Center. Named in honor of U.S. translator Ralph Manheim, this literary award is given every three years to a translator whose career has demonstrated a commitment to excellence through the body of her work. The medal is awarded in recognition of a lifetime achievement in the field of literary translation.[9]
Throughout Peden's career, she translated more than 60 books from Spanish to English and is considered one of the leading translators of her time.[10]
She married first, in 1949, Robert Jackson Norwine (1924-2018), a real estate broker and dean of students at the New College of Florida from 1965 to 1967, with whom she had a son, Kyle, and daughter, Kerry. They were divorced in 1961.[11][12] She married secondly William Harwood Peden (1913-1999), professor of English at the University of Missouri, writer, founder of the University of Missouri Press, and a key player in the creation of The Missouri Review; together they raised Peden's two daughters and her son and daughter by Robert Norwine.[13][14] William Peden died in 1999. In 2002, Peden married Robert Harper, who survived her.[15]
