As a young child, L. E. Berry grew up enthralled with recitals by his grandmother, Oretta, performed in the oral tradition of griots, the West African storytellers. He developed his love for a good story along with an appreciation for vivid imagery through tales she passed down from the generations before her.
Born into an Air Force family, Berry moved from place to place and lived at various military bases around the world. L. E. often felt like an outsider in the new communities. He used his creativity and his undeniable abilities in art, inherited from his mother, Anna, to communicate and to help establish friendships during his family's frequent relocations.
Prior to suffering a stroke in 2011, L.E. Berry worked as an accomplished visual artist and digital motion producer. Albeit unforeseen, at the age of eleven, he had taught himself to draw using his left hand in case he lost the use of the right one.
Through studies of Art History, L.E. Berry developed an interest in the art of the pre-Renaissance period troubadours and considers them the world's first Pop Stars. In fact, their literary expressions of romantic love inspired the narrative for That One Almighty Thing.
