John Riley was born in Leeds in 1937 and served in the Royal Air Force from 1956 to 1958 as a National Serviceman. He read English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and became part of the group known as the Cambridge School of Poets. He played a major role in setting up and running Grosseteste Press and its associated Review. After teaching for nine years in secondary schools he returned to Leeds to write full-time. He was attacked and killed by muggers near his home in 1978.