Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan, to an American father and French-Armenian[1] mother, and raised in Virginia, United States.

His father, a North Carolinian, enlisted in the service after graduating from high school and, while stationed in Marseilles, met Cole's mother, who worked at the PX.

Together they lived in Japan, Germany, Illinois, California, Nevada, Missouri and Virginia, where Cole attended public schools and the College of William and Mary.

Cole is openly gay, though in his early work he turned to "nature as a mask for writing about private feelings.

"[47] He came out as he "felt a need to speak as a gay man, since until recently we were not encouraged by society to love one another, marry, and have children.