André Spears was born and grew up in New York City, where he and his wife raised their family. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature; his field of study concerned the emergence of ” deep time” and the historical impact of archaeological discovery on the field of literature. He has served as a board member at Poets House in NYC, is the co-founder of the Gloucester Writers Center in Gloucester (MA), and the former director of the Maud/Olson library (now at the Cape Ann Museum); he was also a senior editor at the now-archived website Dispatches from the Poetry Wars.