Levi Savage Peterson was born on December 13, 1933, in Snowflake, Arizona. He served an L.D.S. mission in Switzerland and Belgium from 1954-1957, speaking French. He married Althea Sand on August 31, 1958, and he has a daughter, Karrin. He graduated from Brigham Young University (B.Y.U.) with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1958 and a Master of Arts in English in 1960. He received his Ph.D. in English in 1965 from the University of Utah. Levi started teaching English as an assistant professor at Weber State College in 1965. He became an associate professor in 1968 and a professor in 1972. He was the Chairman of the English Department from 1970-1973. He served as the Director of the Honors Program from 1973-1982. He retired in Spring 2000, with his last semester being taught purely online. He was one of the first professors at Weber State to teach an entire semester online. Since retiring he continues to teach one class online a semester. He moved to Issaquah, Washington to be near family. He edited Dialogue: A journal of Mormon Thought from 2004-2008. He wrote two fiction books, The Backslider (1986) and Aspen Marooney (1995); two nonfiction books, Juanita Brooks: Mormon woman historian (1988) and A rascal by nature, a Christian by yearning: A Mormon autobiography (2006); shorts stories; and articles and essays. In 1981, his story "The gift" won first prize in the Christian Values in Literature Contest at B.Y.U.