Karen King-Aribisala was born in Guyana. She has travelled widely, having been educated in Guyana, Barbados, Italy, Nigeria and England. She is now living and working in Nigeria where she is an Associate Professor of English in the department of English, University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Karen is a writer of non-fiction and fiction and regarding the latter she has published several short stories and poems in various journals such as Wasafiri, Presence Africaine, The Griot and Bim. Her first collection of short stories, Our Wife and Other Stories, won the Best First Book Prize in the Commonwealth Prize (African Region) 1990/91. Her second work, Kicking Tongues, is a blending of poetry and prose, in which she transposes Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to modern-day Nigeria. Furthermore she has written a novel entitled The Hangman’s Game and two collections of short stories – Bitter Leaf Soup and Virginity Yam and Latinized Black.

She is the recipient of a number of awards such as two James Mitchner Fellowships for creative writing at the University of Miami, a Ford Foundation Grant and British Council grants. She is married with one son.