After she married Oscar Chopin, a a cotton Creole factor, in 1870, she settled in New Orleans and progressively she became acquainted with that Creole community that she depicted in her writings.

In 1883, Oscar died of swamp fever, and in 1885, after she had moved with her mother to St Louis, Kate lost her too. She was a widow with six children when her family physician suggested her to express her sorrows and disappointments in writing.

This was the start of a fifteen years literary career, publishing two novels and over one hundred short stories, ending with Kate's death in 1904, of a cerebral hemorrhage.

At Fault (1890), Kate's first published novel, was criticized severely for its female alcoholism and divorce themes.

Desiree's Baby, a short story published by Vogue magazine, is considered as her most famous and was later included in Bayou Folk, a collection of twenty-three stories and sketches published in 1894.

A Night in Acadie, published in 1897 shows her growing interest in passion, sexuality and marriage.

While she was translating some works of Guy de Maupassant, she wrote her masterpiece: The Awakening, published in 1899.