Theodore Ell was born in Sydney in 1984. He studied literature and modern languages at the University of Sydney, spent periods of further study and research in Italy and was awarded a PhD in 2010. For several years he earned a living freelance as an editor, translator and researcher, and co-founded the international journal Contrappasso Magazine, of which he was co-editor. Ell moved to Canberra in 2015 to begin working in the public service.

From 2018 to 2021 he lived in Lebanon, accompanying his wife on a diplomatic posting. Ell's essay 'Faades of Lebanon', about Lebanese revolution and the Beirut port explosion, won the 2021 Calibre Essay Prize.

His poetry collection Beginning in Sight shared the 2022 Anne Elder Award. Ell's poetry, essays, translations and non-fiction have been published in Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom and Lebanon. He is an honorary lecturer in literature at the Australian National University.