Ken Smith (4 December 1938 – 27 June 2003) was a British poet.

Life

The son of a farm labourer, born in Rudston, Yorkshire, Smith had an itinerant childhood. He attended Leeds University and studied with Geoffrey Hill where fellow students included Tony Harrison and Jon Silkin. With Silkin, he later co-edited Stand magazine, from 1963 to 1972. Moving to America in 1969, he taught at Slippery Rock State College, College of the Holy Cross, and Clark University. He returned to England in 1973, teaching at Leeds University as the Yorkshire Arts Association Creative Writing Fellow from 1976 to 1978. In 1977 he founded the South West Review literary magazine and remained the editor until 1979. He married Annie Minnis in 1960; they had one son and two daughters, but the marriage dissolved. In 1981, he married the poet and artist Judi Benson; he thus became stepfather to her son. In 2018, Stand Magazine published a special Ken Smith celebration issue for what would have been his 80th birthday.

Awards

Works

Poetry

Prose

Editor