| Birth Place: | Lebanon, Indiana |
| Nationality: | American-Canadian |
| Occupation: | Novelist, playwright and journalist |
| Alma Mater: | Indiana State University |
| Children: | 2 |
Ami McKay (born 1968)[1] [2] is an American Canadian novelist, playwright and journalist.
McKay was born in Lebanon, Indiana[3] 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.[4] 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. 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.[5]
In 2003, McKay was an apprentice in the WFNS Mentorship program, where she was paired with Richard Cumyn.
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.[6]
In 2012, McKay received the Established Artist Recognition Award from the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council / Province of Nova Scotia. The same year, The Virgin Cure won the Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Association "Bookseller's Choice of the Year" award.
In 2017, CBC Books included The Birth House on their "100 novels that make you proud to be Canadian" list in the 69th position.[7]
| 2003 | Daughter of Family G | Atlantic Journalism Award for Feature Writing for Radio | Finalist | ||
| Winner | |||||
| "Illumination" | Writers' Union of Canada Short Prose Competition | Winner | |||
| 2004 | H.R.(Bill) Percy Prize for Unpublished Novel | Second | |||
| 2007 | Atlantic Book Awards' Booksellers' Choice Award | Winner | |||
| Evergreen Award | Winner | [8] | |||
| International Dublin Literary Award | Longlist | ||||
| Libris Award for Best Author | Winner | ||||
| Libris Award for Best Fiction | Winner | ||||
| 2009 | Jerome | Robert Meritt Award for Outstanding Play by a Nova Scotian Playwright | Finalist | [9] | |
| Robert Meritt Award for Outstanding Sound or Original Score | Winner | ||||
| 2017 | Sunburst Award for Adult Fiction | Finalist | [10] [11] | ||
| Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award | Winner | [12] | |||
| 2018 | Nothing Less | Robert Meritt Award for Outstanding Musical Direction | Finalist | [13] [14] | |
| Robert Meritt Award for Outstanding Original Score | Finalist | ||||
| Robert Meritt Award for Outstanding Play by a Nova Scotian Playwright | Finalist | ||||
| 2020 | Daughter of Family G | Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award | Winner | [15] [16] | |
| Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award | Winner |