Joseph Ezell was born on October 5, 1980 in the city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. From the start it was a difficult road. Born prematurely after his mother was involved in a car accident, he was so small that he fit in his father's hand. After a stint in intensive care for two weeks, his parents, Linda and Grover Ezell were allowed to take him home. The young baby soon thrived and developed a passion for learning early on, particularly in the areas of English literature and history. Raised in rural Jones County high school proved to be the area that unleashed his creativity. While in the 9th grade, on a whim, he decided to try his hand at writing and completed his first story, less than thirty pages on notebook paper. Soon, more stories followed and he would keep writing like this until the age of 21, when during a sudden crisis of confidence, he simply stopped writing. Telling himself that he would pick the craft back up when he got a stable career, he embarked off on an adventure in college that would last for a little over a decade and net him three degrees, an Associate degree in English from Jones County Junior College and two Bachelor's degrees: one in journalism and one in History at the University of Southern Mississippi. Along the way he worked an assortment of retail jobs. But there was a dull ache in his heart. A small yearning in the back of his brain. It was the urge to write something, and it wouldn't be sated by completing news articles or history papers. Finally, after some gentle prodding from his girlfriend Christina he wrote a one page piece for her. She liked it so much he soon gave in to the urge to write something longer. After she urged him to put to paper a not so serious idea he had, that idea soon morphed into the story that became his first published book: The Black Van. Living in Hattiesburg, he hopes to one day become a successful author and is currently working on his first novel.