Nomadic at heart and a creator at their core, Zoe Boekbinder (they/them) was born on a farm into a family of four children. While music wasn't very present in their upbringing, Boekbinder recalls some of their first memories as making up songs. For them, music is as natural and as necessary as breath, and the way they engage as an activist. Boekbinder was raised, in part, by their grandfather — a Holocaust survivor. Having survived the horrific, prejudiced violence of his past, he instilled in Boekbinder a deep belief in justice. Songwriting has become their resistance language.

Boekbinder is one of the founding creators of the Prison Music Project and the album, Long Time Gone. Formerly one half of the band Vermillion Lies, Zoe performs both as a solo artist and in collaborations with artists including Ani DiFranco, Gracie and Rachel, Amanda Palmer and Julie Odell.