Kei Miller

Biography

Kei Miller was born in Jamaica in 1978 and studied English at the University of the West Indies before completing an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. His work has appeared in The Caribbean Writer, Snow Monkey, Caribbean Beat and Obsydian III. His first collection of short fiction, The Fear of Stones, was short-listed for the 2007 Commonwealth Writers First Book Prize. His first poetry collection, Kingdom of Empty Bellies, was published in March 2006 by Heaventree Press; his second, There Is an Anger That Moves, was published by Carcanet in October 2007 followed by A Light Song of Light in 2010. He is also the editor of Carcanet's New Caribbean Poetry: An Anthology. He has been a visiting writer at York University in Canada, the Department of Library Services in the British Virgin Islands (on behalf of UNESCO), a Vera Ruben Fellow at Yaddo, and an International Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa. He has taught Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow and currently teaches at Royal Holloway college, University of London.

The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, published by Carcanet in 2014, was awarded the Forward Prize for best collection. Chair of Judges Jeremy Paxman told The Guardian, "“Kei is doing something you don’t come across often: this is a beautifully voiced collection which struck us all with its boldness and wit. Many poets refer to multiple realities, different ways of observing the world. Kei doesn’t just refer, he articulates them".