Ezra James Poulsen was born in Paris, Idaho in 1889 to James Sirrene and Grace Price Poulsen. He served an LDS mission to the southern states, and went on to attend Brigham Young University. After graduating, Ezra began teaching and served as principal of Garden City Junior High and Juab Stake Seminary. He was also head of the English department at Granite High School. Later he was an editor of the Salt Lake Telegram and associate editor of Inter-mountain Horseman. He married Elsie Sullivan in June, 1913 in the Salt Lake temple.
Ezra authored several volumes of published biography, two novels, and three collections of verse. He contributed fiction, non-fiction, and verse to a wide variety of religious and general magazines and newspapers.