Kim Squirrell

Kim Squirrell was born in Birmingham in 1958 to Caribbean and Irish parents. At seventeen she declared herself a poet and went in search of the countryside, settling in Dorset in 1988.  She holds a degree in Fine Art and English from the University of Exeter and her interdisciplinary practice has encompassed environmental theatre, collaborative performance, and site-specific installation.

Her writing has appeared in publications including Poetry Review, Stand, Riptide, poetry anthologies Out of Bounds and More Fiya, and the short story anthology Resist. In 2021 she was shortlisted for the inaugural James Berry Poetry Prize.

Returning to study at Exeter, Kim received an MA with distinction in Creative Writing, submitting a long polyphonic narrative poem drawing on archival documents, objects, and images. Further experiments in long form poetry and prose led to her winning the Bridport Prize Dorset Award for her novel in progress and the Sky Arts RSL Writers Award for fiction.