Arlene Ovalle-Child grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, a child of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She attended Drew University, where she concentrated in both Physics and Spanish, then received her M.A. in Hispanic Studies from Boston College. She earned her doctorate at Boston University with a dissertation entitled Objetos de deseo en los cuentos de Silvina Ocampo. She is a member of the Modern Languages Department at Simmons University, where she teaches Spanish.