Journalist, film critic, poet, and editor, Paul Swenson was born in 1935 to Dan and Margaret Swenson, recent Swedish immigrants who settled in Logan, Utah. Paul was the youngest of 10 children which included his oldest sister—the poet May Swenson. After serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Sweden, he became a reporter at the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he covered local police activity. But it was during his time at the magazine Utah Holiday, which he founded in 1971 with former missionary companion, Bob Coles, that Swenson earned his renown as an editor. The magazine was known for its investigative journalism and willingness to examine controversial issues including the involvement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah politics and media. Swenson left Utah Holiday in 1988 to become editor of The Event. He briefly contributed articles to The Salt Lake Observer before its closing and throughout the 1990s was a regular contributor of book reviews for The Tribune. Toward the end of his life, Swenson worked as an instructor in the communications department at Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University). He was married to his wife, Sharon Lee Swenson, for 30 years before their divorced in 1998.

Swenson, a lifelong and loyal member of the LDS Church, sometimes stood opposed to the public and political positions of the church, such as its opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment during the late 1970s and later gay rights. These tensions are explored in his anthology of poems Iced at the Ward, Burned at the Stake which was published by Signature Books in 2003. At the time of his death in 2012 at age 76 Swenson had several forthcoming collections of poetry, some of which are found in this collection.