Eric Jerome Dickey was born in Memphis, Tennessee and attended the University of Memphis (the former Memphis State), where he earned his degree in Computer System Technology. In 1983, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in engineering.

After landing a job in the aerospace industry as a software developer, Eric Jerome Dickeys artistic talents surfaced, inspiring him to become an actor and a stand-up comedian. Yet Eric quickly found out that writing was something he could do and do well. From creative writing classes to avidly consuming the works of his favorite authors, Eric Jerome Dickey began to shape a writing career of his own. Having written several scripts for his personal comedy act, he started writing poetry and short stories. The film work gave me insight into character development, the acting classes helped me understand motivation...All of it goes hand in hand, Eric explains. He joined the IBWA (International Black Writers and Artists), participated in their development workshops, and became a recipient of the IBWA SEED Scholarship to attend UCLAs Creative Writing classes. In 1994 his first published short story, Thirteen, appeared in the IBWAs River Crossing: Voices of the Diaspora-An Anthology of the International Black Experience. A second short story, Days Gone By, was published in the magazine A Place to Enter.

With those successes behind him, Eric Jerome Dickey decided to fine-tune some of his earlier work and developed a screenplay called Cappuccino. Cappuccino was directed and produced by Craig Ross, Jr. and appeared in coffee houses around the Los Angeles area. In February 1998, Cappuccino made its local debut during the Pan African Film Festival at the Magic Johnson Theater in Los Angeles.

Short stories, though, didnt seem to fulfill Eric Jerome Dickeys creative yearnings. Eric says, Id set out to do a ten-page story and it would go on for three hundred pages. So Eric kept writing and reading and sending out query lett