Ami McKay

McKay was born in Lebanon, Indiana{{Cite web |date=January 2012 |title=There is no frigate like a book |url=http://amimckay.com/tag/halifax-public-library/ |website=Ami McKay |access-date=2020-08-05 |archive-date=2020-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020004031/https://amimckay.com/tag/halifax-public-library/ |url-status=live }} in 1968 and was raised in rural Indiana. She received a bachelor's degree in music education and graduate degree in musicology from Indiana State University.

In 2000, McKay moved with her two sons to Scot's Bay, Nova Scotia to live with the man she would eventually marry.

Many members of McKay's family have Lynch Syndrome, a genetic condition that causes a predisposition for numerous cancers.{{Cite web |date=2020-07-13 |title=How a family history of dying young shaped Ami McKay and changed cancer research |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/full-episode-july-13-2020-1.5299449/how-a-family-history-of-dying-young-shaped-ami-mckay-and-changed-cancer-research-1.5299451 |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=CBC Books |archive-date=2023-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513234622/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/full-episode-july-13-2020-1.5299449/how-a-family-history-of-dying-young-shaped-ami-mckay-and-changed-cancer-research-1.5299451 |url-status=live }} Later in life, McKay learned that she carries the gene. This condition has inspired her writing, most prominently Daughter of Family G.

After receiving her graduate degree, McKay moved to Chicago, where she taught music full-time and spent her free-time writing.

In 2000, she devoted herself to writing full-time. During this time, she "began writing and producing documentaries for CBC Radio." Her work has aired on Maritime Magazine, Outfront, This Morning and The Sunday Edition. Her documentary, Daughter of Family G won an Excellence in Journalism Medallion at the 2003 Atlantic Journalism Awards. She was a finalist in the Writers' Union of Canada's Short Prose Competition as well as the recipient of a grant from the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.

McKay's first novel, The Birth House, was published in 2006 and landed the top spot on Canadian bestseller lists.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} Her second novel, The Virgin Cure, was published in 2012.

Her first script for the stage, Jerome: The Historical Spectacle, was commissioned by Two Planks and a Passion Theatre Company and was staged at The Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, directed by Ken Schwartz in August 2008.

In 2019, it was announced that The Birth House had been purchased to be adapted for television by Sherry White and Kerri MacDonald and Omnifilm Entertainment Ltd.{{Cite web |last=van Koeverden |first=Jane |date=2019-05-24 |title=Ami McKay's novel The Birth House being adapted for TV |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/ami-mckay-s-novel-the-birth-house-being-adapted-for-tv-1.5148964 |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=CBC Books |archive-date=2021-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923064439/https://www.cbc.ca/books/ami-mckay-s-novel-the-birth-house-being-adapted-for-tv-1.5148964 |url-status=live }}

In 2003, McKay was an apprentice in the WFNS Mentorship program, where she was paired with Richard Cumyn.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In 2011, The Birth House was one of five finalists in CBC's Canada Reads, having been championed by TV host and designer Debbie Travis.{{Cite web |date=2011 |title=Meet Canada Reads 2011 nominee Ami McKay |url=https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1775706428 |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=CBC Books}}

In 2012, McKay received the Established Artist Recognition Award from the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council / Province of Nova Scotia.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} The same year, The Virgin Cure won the Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Association "Bookseller's Choice of the Year" award.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In 2017, CBC Books included The Birth House on their "100 novels that make you proud to be Canadian" list in the 69th position.{{Cite web |date=2017-12-04 |title=100 novels that make you proud to be Canadian |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/100-novels-that-make-you-proud-to-be-canadian-1.4194710 |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=CBC Books |archive-date=2023-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430204547/https://www.cbc.ca/books/100-novels-that-make-you-proud-to-be-canadian-1.4194710 |url-status=live }}

• The Birth House, Knopf Canada (2006)
• The Virgin Cure, Knopf Canada (2011)
• The Witches of New York, Knopf Canada (2016)
• Half Spent Was the Night, Knopf Canada (2018)

• Before My Time: A Memoir of Love and Fate, Vintage Books Canada (2021)
• Daughter of Family G: A Memoir of Cancer Genes, Love and Fate, Knopf Canada (2019)
• Prior to publication, segments of Daughter of Family G were featured on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition
• In 2003, a segment of Daughter of Family G was selected to air on Soundprint and aired on National Public Radio stations throughout the U.S.

• Jerome: The Historical Spectacle, Gaspereau Press 2008
• First staged by Two Planks and Passion Theatre Company August 1-17, 2008 at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts

• "Christ on a Bike," published in Room of One's Own Magazine

• Kitchen Ghosts, Feature Documentary for CBC Radio's Outfront
• The Midwife House, Feature Webumentary for CBC Radio's Outfront
• From Smart Girl to Scat Girl, Feature Documentary for CBC Radio's Outfront
• Learning to Box, Personal Essay for CBC Radio's First Person Singular

• The Writers Federation of Nova Scotia - Writer's Council Member
• PEN Canada & the PEN Canada Rapid Action Network
• Writing Fellow at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts

{{portal|Novels}}

• List of Canadian writers

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• {{official|url=http://www.amimckay.com}}

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Category:1968 births

Category:Living people

Category:Canadian non-fiction writers

Category:Canadian radio personalities

Category:Canadian women novelists

Category:20th-century Canadian novelists

Category:20th-century Canadian women writers

Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers

Category:Indiana State University alumni