Kathleen Jamie was born in Renfrewshire. She studied philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and now lives in Fife. Her Scottish upbringing, as well as her travels into some of the most remote parts of Asia, has inspired her poetry. She has won numerous awards and was widely acclaimed as the most outstanding young female poet writing in Britain. She has held several writer-in-residence posts, including one at the University of Dundee from 1991-3. In 2005 she won critical acclaim for Findings, a collection of non-fiction writings.