Karen McCarthy Woolf

Karen McCarthy Woolf was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

Born in London to English and Jamaican parents Karen McCarthy Woolf’s poetry collection An Aviary of Small Birds is described as a ‘pitch perfect’ début (Guardian). Karen’s radio credits include Night Shift, a reworking of Homer’s Odyssey for R4 Book of the Week; Miss Birdie’s Letter, a music/poetry travelogue for R3 Between the Ears; and a collaborative adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando which was a BBC Drama of the Week. This year sees her working with the Promise Institute for International Human Rights Law as a Fulbright Scholar, co-presenting R4’s Poetry Please, lecturing in China, collaborating with various techno music producers for events across London and working on her third book, Top Doll, which is a verse novel.