Rich Penney grew up in Southern Ontario, in the city of Stoney Creek. Though he didn't know it at the time, he was a writer at the tender age of seven, acting out elaborate stories with his action figures. He discovered a love of science-fiction and fantasy with J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Within six months of reading those series, he knew what he wanted to do with his life.

Rich is an activist and a futurist, an advocate of global sustainability and a proponent of social justice. He has given talks in Toronto, Athens and Brisbane, covering a wide variety of topics from environmental sustainability to social equality.