Born in Switzerland to Italian parents, teacher and poet Renata Treitel started out life with a penchant for travel. She grew up in Italy and Argentina, but she decided to go to graduate school in the United States, where she continues to live. Treitel earned her M.A. from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, where she also taught Spanish for many years.

In 1973, Treitel became Romance Language Editor of the highly-acclaimed prose and poetry magazine Nimrod, a position she would hold for the next 10 years. Her published poetry translations include Distancias by Susana Thénon (Sun & Moon Press: 1994), Splendida Lumina Solis by Rosita Copioli (Sun & Moon Press: 1996), for which she won the Oklahoma Book Award, and Las Cacerías by Amelia Bigioni (Xenos Books: 2003).

Her published original poetry books include After the Aftermath (Blooming Twig Books: 2009) and German Notebook (Hadassah Press: 1982). Treitel was first runner-up in the Bordighera Prize for Poetry for an unpublished poetry collection, and she has been a finalist and semi-finalist in several well-known poetry contests across Oklahoma and elsewhere.

Magazines in which her poetry has appeared include: Nimrod, Crazyhorse, Calyx, International Poetry Review, Oxford Magazine, Cimarron Review, Adirondack Review, and The Absinthe Literary Review.