Richard Kemp was born and grew up in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex. He studied psychology, and then art at Central Saint Martins, graduating in 1997. He did an MA in Education and Writing at Sussex University before undergoing many years of counselling training. He now works as a counsellor in the NHS. Richard's first pamphlet Football on Waste Ground was published by Smiths Knoll in 2006.