Sung was born Liao Weijun in 1952 in Erlun Township, Yunlin County. As a middle- and high-school student he got good marks for his writing, but had little interest in the shallow plainness of modern art and literature. Instead, he was drawn to the language aesthetic, rhyme, meter, and imaginary landscapes of classical poetry.
宋澤萊，本名廖偉竣，1952 年生於雲林二崙鄉，國、高中時期作文成績頗佳，但淺白的現代文藝並不吸引他，反而是古詩詞的文字美感、音韻與意境，讓他沈迷不已。