Leo Luke Marcello was born in DeRidder, Louisiana, in 1945. He had a B.A. from Tulane University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, with additional study at the University of Dallas and Catholic University of America. He is the author of The Secret Proximity of Everywhere, Blackrobe's Love Letters, and Silent Film. He edited and published Everything Comes to Light: A Festschrift for Joy Scantlebury. His awards include two Shearman Fellowships, a Shearman Endowed Professorship, a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Deep South Writers' Competition, and the David Lloyd Kreeger Award. He taught at Howard University, Catholic University of America, Louisiana State University, McNeese State University, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and in Wales.