Alison Louise Kennedy lives and writes in Glasgow's west end. She was born in Dundee in 1965, and attended Dundee High School before moving on to Warwick University from 1983 until 1986, when she took a BA (Hons) in Theatre Studies and Drama. She chose not to study literature, viewing creative writing and criticism as incompatible activities. After university, she returned to Scotland, and from 1988 to 1989 was Community Arts Worker for Clydebank and District.

She maintains an interest in the social applications of the arts, having been writer in residence for Hamilton and East Kilbride Social Work Department (1989-91) and Project Ability (1989-95), an arts and special needs organisation promoting equality of access to the arts, the management committee of which she still sits on. In addition, she has edited numerous magazines and journals, including: Outside Lines magazine (1989-95); New Writing Scotland (1993-95); and New Writing 9 (1999), and is a regular contributor to various newspapers, including The Scotsman, The Herald, The Telegraph and the Guardian. She has also done television and radio work for the BBC, writing, reviewing and presenting, and wrote the screenplay for 1994 British Film Institute film, 'Stella Does Tricks'.

Her work, both fiction and non-fiction, has been translated into German, French, Dutch and Spanish, illustrating the breadth of her literary appeal. Moreover, her literary gravity has been recognised by that fact that she has won many literary prizes, such as numerous Scottish Arts Council Book Awards, the Saltire Best Book Award (twice) and the Somerset Maugham and Encore Awards. In turn, she has judged various literary prizes herself, including in 1996 the Booker Prize, in 2001 the Guardian First Book Prize, and in 2002 the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Kennedy is a Christian, and often finds a political translation of her personal faith in the peace movement. She regularly attends blockades of the Faslane Nuclear Submarine Base on the Clyde, and has been a vocal critic of the British government's involvement in recent conflicts, in newspaper columns and in speeches made at numerous anti-war demonstrations.

Currently, she lectures in creative writing at the University of St. Andrews, and her latest novel, the greatly anticipated Paradise, will be published in September 2004.