Anthony Mellors was born in the fen country, where he had a troubled childhood and failed to attend various schools. He worked as a lithographic artist for printing firms in Skegness and Great Malvern, and lived in Exeter with a group of itinerant painters, before going up to read English at the universities of Sussex and Oxford. He has since lectured in English and American Literature at universities in Oxford, Durham, Manchester, and Birmingham, as well as helping to maintain the collection at The Poetry Library in London and (reluctantly) becoming a house restorer. In 1990, he founded (with Andrew Lawson) fragmente: a magazine of contemporary poetics. At the time of writing, he lives in north Norfolk.