Donald Mengay grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked in a factory for a time and managed a bookstore. He began writing fiction in his early twenties. He taught Queer and Post-Humanist Lit at CUNY for over thirty years, as well as English at the University of Paris, Nanterre. During his years teaching he published several articles of queer criticism in a variety of journals. He also co-published a book entitled Dis/Inheritance: New Croatian Photography, from Ikon Press. He began writing The Eldorado Trilogy in 2007 and finished it in 2025. It is comprised of The Lede to Our Undoing; Ojo; and Bare Life. Donald Mengay lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Find him at donaldmengay.com