Usha Akella was born on April 20, 1967, in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, to Anuradha Nidamarthy and N.V.K. Dutt. She grew up in Hyderabad, where she attended St. Ann High School. Completing her B.A. in English from St. Francis Degree College, Hyderabad, in 1987, she did a master’s at Hyderabad Central University. She moved to the USA in 1993, where, at the University of Baltimore, she combined a Master’s in Publications Design with courses in Creative Writing and Graphic Design. She earned an MS in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 2018.