She feels that her Scots nationality has been an advantage to her, enabling her to write and develop independently of what she calls the 'metropolitical' literary pundits. Milestones13 May 1962 KJ was born in Renfrewshire; she has a sister and a brother.By the end of 1994 After two books which were mainly travel-writing, KJ's next major poetry collection, again from Bloodaxe, was The Queen of Sheba.