Caleb Powell was born in Taiwan. He has also lived in Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Guam, South Korea, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. He studied Mandarin as an adult in Taichung, and has attained different levels of language proficiency in Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. Along with teaching English, he has taught Spanish and translated Chinese. His ESL guide, The World Is a Class, was published in Canada by Good Cheer. His literary work is in various publications, including The Baltimore Review, Drunken Boat, Fourth Genre, Gulf Coast, Post Road, Prick of the Spindle, The Rio Grande Review, The Texas Review, and Zyzzyva.