Jenny King was born in London during the Blitz and wrote poetry from childhood. She studied English at Cambridge, then taught it in schools, first in Shrewsbury before coming to Sheffield, where she has lived ever since and where she also ran Sticky Bun Writers for twelve years.

She received an Eric Gregory award in 1979 and published a poetry pamphlet with The Mandeville Press in 1981. She has continued to write and publish in magazines and anthologies and came second in the Bridport Prize in 2003.