Pauline Kirk is the author of several novels: three under her own name, Waters of Time (Century Hutchinson and Ulverscroft), The Keepers, (Virago /Little, Brown), and Border 7 (Stairwell Books), and three as PJ Quinn. Eleven collections of her poetry have been published, the most recent being Time Traveller by Graft Poetry. She is editor of Fighting Cock Press, a member of the Pennine Poets group, and on the editorial board of Dream Catcher. Her poems, short stories and articles have appeared in many journals and anthologies, and been broadcast on local radio and podcast.
 
Born in Birmingham, Pauline moved to York in 2002 from Leeds, via Australia, Essex and Berkshire. After working as an Assistant Senior Counsellor for the Open University, from 1988 to 1995 she was a Voluntary Resource Co-ordinator for Leeds Social Services. In 1996, a ‘New Beginnings Award’ from Yorkshire Arts enabled her to give up her ‘day job’, and she is now a free-lance writer and editor. As a performance poet and leader of creative writing groups, she has appeared at venues ranging from theatres and arts festivals, to schools, community halls and social services day centres. She also judges short story and poetry competitions. In 2018 she was a finalist for the York Culture Award (Literature).
 
Pauline’s editorial work includes A Survivor Myself: Experiences of Child Abuse (Yorkshire Arts Circus), and an edition of her uncle’s war-time RAF letters, Thinking of You Always (Stairwell/Fighting Cock Press), as well as local history booklets. Fighting Cock Press specialises in high quality poetry from the North and retains a close link to the Pennine Poets. In 2016 Pauline collaborated with Graft Poetry to publish a celebratory anthology, Fifty:Fifty to mark the group’s fiftieth anniversary. Since then she has published poetry collections by Colin Speakman and Alan Gillott, and in association with Stairwell Books, two biographies.
 
As PJ Quinn, Pauline collaborates with her daughter, Jo Summers, on a series of DI Ambrose mysteries set in the 1950’s. To date four have been published by Stairwell Books: Foul Play, Poison Pen (also available as e-books), Close Disharmony and Poetic Justice.
 
Waters of Time and The Keepers are also available as e-books on Kindle, and an audio book of Border 7 recorded by Pauline herself can be downloaded on Amazon Audible. More books and buying options are given at Pauline’s website.
 
Links to interviews by students of Leeds Trinity, and York Universities:
at YouTube                 at Facebook