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Laura Jean McKay

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Laura Jean McKay is an Australian author. In 2021 she won the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for her novel The Animals in That Country.[1][2]

Career

McKay 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 University of Melbourne.[3] She completed a PhD at The University of Melbourne, where she wrote The Animals in that Country.[4] Since June 2019 McKay has been a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University in New Zealand.[1][5]

Works

Laura Jean McKay's first book Holiday in Cambodia 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,[6] the Steele Rudd Award for an Australian short story collection at the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards,[7] and the Asher Award.[8] The short story collection looks at the effects of expatriate life and foreign influence on Cambodian people.[9]

McKay's second book The Animals in That Country was published by Scribe Australia, Scribe UK and Scribe US in 2020. 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, with its release at the start of COVID-19 pandemic being a coincidence.[1][2] The title is a homage to an a early poetry collection by Margaret Atwood.[2] 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".[10]

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.[11][5][12][13] The novel also won an Australian Book Industry Award award for Small Publisher's Adult Book of the Year,[14][15] and an Aurealis Award for excellence in speculative fiction (co-win with Corey J White for Repo Virtual).[16] 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.[2][17] 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".[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Laura Jean McKay wins $100,000 Victorian literature prize for The Animals in That Country". The Guardian. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Blackwell, Adam (28 September 2021). "Manawatū author claims top science fiction prize with pandemic novel". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  3. ^ Laidlaw, Emily (23 September 2013). "The 'real' Cambodia: an interview with Laura Jean McKay". Kill Your Darlings. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  4. ^ Conroy, Tom (24 June 2021). "Turning into a mosquito: An interview with Laura Jean McKay". Headland. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  5. ^ a b Jefferson, Dee (1 February 2021). "Laura Jean McKay's pandemic fiction The Animals in That Country wins Victorian Premier's Literary Awards' $100,000 top gong". ABC News. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  6. ^ Wyndham, Susan (8 April 2014). "Talented shortlist for the 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Awards". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Queensland Literary Awards 2014 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  8. ^ "Asher Award". Australian Society of Authors. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  9. ^ Bishop, Alice (October 2013). "Holiday in Cambodia". Australian Book Review. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  10. ^ Jordan, Justine (7 October 2020). "The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay review – an extraordinary debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Laura Jean McKay: winning Australia's richest literary prize". Radio New Zealand. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Laura Jean McKay wins Victorian Premier's Literary Award". The Australian. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  13. ^ Jacobs, Maxine (9 February 2021). "Gritty pandemic novel wins Manawatū author top prize". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  14. ^ "2021 Archives". Australian Book Industry Awards. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  15. ^ Paull, Emily (28 April 2021). "Winners of the 2021 ABIA Awards announced". The AU Review. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Aurealis Awards 2020 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 9 July 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  17. ^ a b Flood, Alison (27 September 2021). "Laura Jean McKay wins the Arthur C Clarke award". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
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