James Schell Hearst was born in Black Hawk County near Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1900. Hearst cultivated his interest in writing early in life, in eighth grade rewriting prose stories into verse. At the age of nineteen, Hearst became a paraplegic after a diving accident in the Cedar River. For much of his life Hearst, along with his brother, Charles, was an active farmer on the Hearst family farm, Maplehearst, near Cedar Falls. Hearst wanted to use his writing to "tell the truth about farming and about life as it is lived on a farm," (The North American Review, Fall 1974). He began his professional writing career in his twenties writing articles on farm matters. In 1941 Hearst was invited to teach creative writing at the Iowa State Teachers College (the University of Northern Iowa) by Dr. H. W. Reninger, Head of the English Department. Upon his retirement Hearst was a Distinguished Professor of English and in 1975 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature from UNI. Hearst was also a poet-in-residence for many summers at Aspen, Colorado.

At the age of 43 Hearst married Carmelita Calderwood, a nurse he had met in Iowa City, Iowa during his physical therapy. Their marriage ended prematurely as Carmelita succumbed to cancer seven years later. In 1953 Hearst was married again to Meryl Norton, a friend of Carmelita's with whom Hearst corresponded frequently after Carmelita's death. Meryl devoted much of her time to Hearst: harvesting corn on his farm, typing his manuscripts and helping edit his autobiography, My Shadow Below Me (1981) . The two invited many notable writers into their Black Hawk County home including Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg. Hearst authored thirteen volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works, publishing more than 600 poems in his lifetime. Known often as the "farmer-poet," Hearst died in 1983.