Laura Jean McKay
{{Short description|Australian author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Laura Jean McKay
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1978}}
| birth_place = Orbost, Australia
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = {{Cslist|Author|lecturer in creative writing}}
| language =
| education =
| alma_mater = University of Melbourne (PhD)
| notable_works = The Animals in That Country (2020)
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| awards = {{plainlist}}
- Victorian Prize for Literature (2021)
- Arthur C. Clarke Award (2021)
{{endplainlist}}
}}
Laura Jean McKay (born 1978) is an Australian author and creative writing lecturer. In 2021, she won the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for her novel The Animals in That Country.{{Cite news|date=1 February 2021|title=Laura Jean McKay wins $100,000 Victorian literature prize for The Animals in That Country|url=http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/feb/01/laura-jean-mckay-wins-100000-victorian-literature-prize-for-the-animals-in-that-country|access-date=13 July 2021|work=The Guardian}}{{cite news |last1=Blackwell |first1=Adam |title=Manawatū author claims top science fiction prize with pandemic novel |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/300417062/manawat-author-claims-top-science-fiction-prize-with-pandemic-novel |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=28 September 2021}}
Life and career
Born in 1978, McKay grew up in Sale, in the Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mckay_laura_jean |title=McKay, Laura Jean |access-date=25 June 2024 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |editor-last=Clute |editor-first=John |editor-link=John Clute |display-editors=etal |publisher=Gollancz |edition=4th}}{{cite news |last1=Lacy |first1=Judith |title=Palmerston North's Laura Jean McKay wins Victorian literature prize |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/manawatu-guardian/news/palmerston-norths-laura-jean-mckay-wins-victorian-literature-prize/TJVRHRRJGRE4UNV3UEQIOY3VGE/ |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=Manawatu Guardian |date=5 February 2021}} She worked at international aid organisations in Cambodia after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and subsequently wrote Holiday in Cambodia while completing an MA in creative writing at the University of Melbourne.{{cite web |last1=Laidlaw |first1=Emily |title=The 'real' Cambodia: an interview with Laura Jean McKay |url=https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/2013/09/the-real-cambodia-an-interview-with-laura-jean-mckay/ |website=Kill Your Darlings |access-date=27 September 2021 |date=23 September 2013}} She completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne, where she wrote The Animals in that Country.{{cite web |last1=Conroy |first1=Tom |title=Turning into a mosquito: An interview with Laura Jean McKay |url=https://headland.org.nz/issues/issue-15/interview-laura-jean-mckay/ |website=Headland |access-date=27 September 2021 |date=24 June 2021}} Since June 2019 McKay has been a lecturer in creative writing at Massey University in New Zealand.{{cite news |last1=Jefferson |first1=Dee |title=Laura Jean McKay's pandemic fiction The Animals in That Country wins Victorian Premier's Literary Awards' $100,000 top gong |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-01/laura-jean-mckay-pandemic-fiction-the-animals-in-that-country/13108262 |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=ABC News |date=1 February 2021}}She was nominated as the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Fellow in 2025.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-13 |title=Laura Jean McKay: 2025 Frank O’Connor Fellow & judge of the Ó Faoláin Competition – Munster Literature Centre |url=https://munsterlit.ie/laura-jean-mckay-2025-frank-oconnor-fellow-judge-of-the-o-faolain-competition/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |language=en-GB}}
She has said that Janet Frame is one of her writing influences: "I still turn to Frame when I've forgotten how to flip the world over and look at it from a new perspective".{{cite news |title=How I write: Science-fiction award winner Laura Jean McKay |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/300432503/how-i-write-sciencefiction-award-winner-laura-jean-mckay |access-date=19 October 2021 |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=20 October 2021}}
=''Holiday in Cambodia''=
McKay's first book, Holiday in Cambodia, a short story collection, was published by Black Inc. in 2013. It was shortlisted for the Glenda Adams Award for New Writing at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards,{{cite news |last1=Wyndham |first1=Susan |title=Talented shortlist for the 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Awards |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/talented-shortlist-for-the-2014-nsw-premiers-literary-awards-20140408-36arp.html |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |date=8 April 2014}} the Steele Rudd Award for an Australian short story collection at the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards,{{cite news |title=Queensland Literary Awards 2014 shortlists announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2014/11/19/31786/queensland-literary-awards-2014-shortlists-announced/ |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=Books+Publishing |date=19 November 2014}} and the Asher Award.{{cite web |title=Asher Award |url=https://www.asauthors.org/services/asher-award |website=Australian Society of Authors |access-date=27 September 2021}} The stories in the collection examine the effects of expatriate life and foreign influence on Cambodian people.{{Cite web|last=Bishop|first=Alice|title=Holiday in Cambodia|url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2013/107-october-2013-no-355/1661-holiday-in-cambodia|access-date=13 July 2021|date=October 2013|website=Australian Book Review}}
=''The Animals in That Country''=
{{Main|The Animals in That Country (novel)}}
McKay's second book and debut novel, The Animals in That Country, was published by Scribe Australia in March 2020,{{cite web |title=The Animals in That Country |url=https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/the-animals-in-that-country-9781925849530 |website=Scribe Aus |access-date=29 September 2021}} by Scribe UK in September 2020, and by Scribe US in November 2020.{{cite web |title=The Animals in That Country |url=https://scribepublications.com/books-authors/books/the-animals-in-that-country-9781950354375 |website=Scribe US |access-date=29 September 2021}} A second edition was published in the UK in July 2021.{{cite web |title=The Animals in That Country |url=https://scribepublications.co.uk/books-authors/books/the-animals-in-that-country-9781913348854 |website=Scribe UK |access-date=29 September 2021}} The novel is a speculative fiction book about communication between species sparked by a pandemic, and was inspired by her experiences of the chikungunya virus caught at a writer's festival in Bali in 2013. She had started working on the novel at that time and its eventual release at the start of COVID-19 pandemic was a coincidence. McKay said of her experiences recording the audiobook in March 2020:{{cite news |last1=McKay |first1=Laura Jean |title=The novel coronavirus: On writing a pandemic, then watching it play out |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/06-04-2020/the-novel-coronavirus-on-writing-a-pandemic-then-watching-it-play-out/ |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=The Spinoff |date=6 April 2020}}
{{blockquote|I had spent years concocting the most impossible virus, only to witness a disease beyond my imagination infecting, killing and driving the real world towards global isolation. It was a relief to get back into the booth and read the sections of the book where the animals start talking.}}
The title is a homage to an early poetry collection by Margaret Atwood. The Guardian described it as an "extraordinary debut", and "a stirring attempt to inhabit other consciousnesses and a wry demonstration of the limits of our own language and empathy".{{cite news |last1=Jordan |first1=Justine |title=The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay review – an extraordinary debut |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/07/the-animals-in-that-country-by-laura-jean-mckay-review-an-extraordinary-debut |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=7 October 2020}} Slate editor Dan Kois selected it as one of his ten best books of 2020,{{cite news |last1=Kois |first1=Dan |title=The Best Books of 2020 |url=https://slate.com/culture/2020/12/best-books-2020-dan-kois.html |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=Slate |date=10 December 2020}} and Simon Ings selected it as one of the five best science-fiction books of 2020 for The Sunday Times.{{cite news |last1=Ings |first1=Simon |title=Best sci-fi books of the year 2020 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/best-sci-fi-books-of-the-year-2020-csmq9nmzr |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=The Sunday Times |date=29 November 2020 |url-access=subscription}}
In February 2021, the novel won the Victorian Prize for Literature, Australia's richest literary award, as well as the Fiction Award at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.{{cite news |title=Laura Jean McKay: winning Australia's richest literary prize |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018783440/laura-jean-mckay-winning-australia-s-richest-literary-prize |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=13 February 2021}}{{cite news |title=Laura Jean McKay wins Victorian Premier's Literary Award |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/laura-jean-mckay-wins-victorian-premiers-literary-award/news-story/a05968627cec79c7f40ade9b9df3381a |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=The Australian |url-access=subscription |date=1 February 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Jacobs |first1=Maxine |title=Gritty pandemic novel wins Manawatū author top prize |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/300224722/gritty-pandemic-novel-wins-manawat-author-top-prize |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=9 February 2021}} The novel also won an Australian Book Industry Award for Small Publisher's Adult Book of the Year,{{cite web |title=2021 Archives |url=https://abiawards.com.au/year-won/2021/ |website=Australian Book Industry Awards |access-date=27 September 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Paull |first1=Emily |title=Winners of the 2021 ABIA Awards announced |url=https://www.theaureview.com/books/winners-of-the-2021-abia-awards-announced/ |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=The AU Review |date=28 April 2021}} and an Aurealis Award for best science fiction novel (co-win with Corey J White for Repo Virtual).{{cite news |title=Aurealis Awards 2020 winners announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/07/09/189384/aurealis-awards-2020-winners-announced/ |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=Books+Publishing |date=9 July 2021}} It was shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal,{{Cite web|last=|date=18 June 2021|title=ALS Gold Medal 2021 shortlist announced|url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/06/18/188279/als-gold-medal-2021-shortlist-announced/|access-date=1 July 2021|website=Books+Publishing|language=en-AU}} the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction,{{cite web |title=The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction shortlist 2020 |url=https://www.readings.com.au/collection/the-readings-prize-for-new-australian-fiction-shortlist-2020# |website=Readings |access-date=28 September 2021}} and the Stella Prize.{{Cite web|title=Announcing the 2021 Stella Prize Shortlist|url=https://thestellaprize.com.au/prize/2021-prize/|access-date=24 March 2021|website=The Stella Prize|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=|date=25 March 2021|title=Stella Prize 2021 shortlist announced|url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2021/03/25/183993/stella-prize-2021-shortlist-announced/|access-date=25 March 2021|website=Books+Publishing|language=en-AU}}
In September 2021 the novel was announced to be the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, presented in the UK to the best science fiction novel of the year.{{cite news |last1=Flood |first1=Alison |title=Laura Jean McKay wins the Arthur C Clarke award |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/27/laura-jean-mckay-wins-the-arthur-c-clarke-award |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=27 September 2021}} The director of the award said "the novel speaks for the silent victims of our real-world climate crises, but while the environmental and social themes are deeply serious, our judges also praised the book's dark humour, sense of character and place, and its active opposition to easy genre tropes". In February 2022 Laura was awarded the NZSA Waitangi Day Literary Honour.{{Cite web|title=Waitangi Day Honours 2022 – NZSA members keep calm and carry on {{!}} New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa|url=https://authors.org.nz/waitangi-day-honours-2022-nzsa-members-keep-calm-and-carry-on/|access-date=2022-02-07|language=en-US}}
=''Gunflower''=
McKay's third book Gunflower was published in September 2023 and shortlisted for The Queensland Literary Awards Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection 2024.{{Cite web |title=Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/get-involved/awards-and-fellowships/queensland-literary-awards/steele-rudd-award-short-story |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=State Library of Queensland |language=en}} It is a collection of short stories, poems and vignettes written over a period of 20 years.{{cite news |last1=Allan |first1=Nina |author1-link=Nina Allan |title=Gunflower by Laura Jean McKay review – exciting speculative tales |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/02/gunflower-by-laura-jean-mckay-review-exciting-speculative-tales |access-date=11 November 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=2 November 2023}} The New Zealand Listener called it "an excellent follow-up" to McKay's previous works.{{cite news |last1=Shaw |first1=Tina |title=Review: Australian author’s latest short stories explore the outlandish |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-listener/books/review-australian-authors-latest-short-stories-explore-the-outlandish/BMR2Z5ZADRELBJ4HH2AJEGM6M4/ |access-date=3 October 2023 |work=The Listener |date=2 October 2023 |url-access=subscription}} The Saturday Paper said it "extends and deepens the achievement" of The Animals in That Country, with a similar focus on non-human perspectives, and that the stories in the collection range "from darkly comic surreal flashes to uncomfortably realistic portraits of life in a world of precarious work and disintegrating social safety nets".{{cite news |last1=Bradley |first1=James |title=Gunflower |url=https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/books/2023/09/30/gunflower#mtr |access-date=3 October 2023 |work=The Saturday Paper |date=28 September 2023 |language=en}}
Nina Allan in The Guardian said that with this collection McKay "reaffirms her virtuosic ability to twist consensus reality into unfamiliar shapes", and that "as readers we should pay careful attention to what its singularly talented author has to say to us". The book was subsequently named by The Guardian as one of the best fiction books of 2023.{{cite news |last1=Jordan |first1=Justine |title=The best fiction of 2023 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/09/the-best-fiction-of-2023 |access-date=25 June 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=9 December 2023}}
Selected works
- {{Cite book |last=McKay |first=Laura Jean |title=Holiday in Cambodia |publisher=Black Inc. |year=2013 |isbn=978-1863956062 |publication-place= |pages=216 |language=English}}
- {{Cite book |last=McKay |first=Laura Jean |title=The Animals in That Country |publisher=Scribe Australia |year=2020 |isbn=978-1925849530 |publication-place= |pages=288 |language=English |author-mask=2}}
- {{Cite book |last=McKay |first=Laura Jean |title=Gunflower: Stories |publisher=Scribe Australia |year=2023 |isbn=978-1922585943 |publication-place= |pages=256 |language=English |author-mask=2}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/turning-point-laura-jean-mckay "The turning point"], article by McKay, State Library of Queensland
- [https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/02/24/short-story-cats-at-the-fire-front-by-laura-jean-mckay/ "Cats at the Fire Front"], short story by McKay, Newsroom
{{Victorian Prize for Literature}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Laura Jean}}
Category:Academic staff of Massey University
Category:University of Melbourne alumni
Category:Australian science fiction writers
Category:21st-century Australian women writers
Category:21st-century Australian novelists
Category:Australian women novelists
Category:21st-century Australian short story writers
Category:Australian women short story writers
Category:Australian women science fiction and fantasy writers