Kamini Ray was born on 12 October 1864 in the village of Basunda, then in Bakerganj District of Bengal Presidency, and now in Jhalokati District of Bangladesh. She was the first woman honors graduate in British India.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with Sanskrit honors from Bethune College of the University of Calcutta in 1886 and started teaching there in the same year. Kadambini Ganguly, the country’s second female honors graduate, attended the same institution in a class three years senior than Roy.
Roy supported younger writers and poets, including Sufia Kamal, who she visited in 1923. She was president of the Bengali Literary Conference in 1930 and vice-president of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad in 1932–33.
