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.
He returned to England in 1973,[1] teaching at Leeds University as the Yorkshire Arts Association Creative Writing Fellow from 1976 to 1978.
[2] In 1977 he founded the South West Review literary magazine and remained the editor until 1979.
[3] In 2018, Stand Magazine[4] published a special Ken Smith celebration issue for what would have been his 80th birthday.