R. Kolewe was born in Montreal. Educated in physics and engineering at the University of Toronto, he pursued a successful career in the software industry for many years, while living in a picturesque village in southwestern Ontario. Always a reader, he began to devote his time to writing not long after returning to Toronto in 2007 and now writes full time. He also takes photographs. His work has appeared online at ditch, e-ratio, The Puritan, and (parenthetical), and he has been associated with the online magazine of Canadian poetics, influencysalon.ca. His first book, Afterletters, was published by BookThug in 2014. His poetry collection Inspecting Nostalgia, was released by Talonbooks in 2017, and A Net of Momentary Sapphire was published in 2023.