Siew-Yue Killingley was born in 1940 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya (now West Malaysia), in a Cantonese-speaking family, and moved to England in 1968. Her work as a teacher began in 1961, n 1981 she founded the non-commercial publishing business Grevatt & Grevatt, named in memory of her father-in-law Arthur Victor Grevatt Killingley (1897-1979), publishing academic work and poetry by herself and others. Since her death the business has been carried on by Dermot Killingley.