Website:
http://www.amimckay.com
Email:
c/o Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia
As a writer of fiction, essays, musical theatre, radio documentaries and dramas, Ami is a dedicated artist who brings creativity and passion to her work. With over 15 years of experience in musical theater she has scored several productions, including The Clouds, Mother Courage, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest.
She believes that the power and magic of a good story can only come through the strength of the characters, plot and place. Her work has been described as "a balance of stories - observation and internal musings, matter of factness and fancy." Her radio documentary for the CBC, Daughter of Family G won an Excellence in Journalism Award at the 2003 Atlantic Journalism Awards and her novel, Given, was awarded second place in the 27th annual Atlantic Writing Competition.
Born in Indiana, Ami currently lives in an old farm house in Scots Bay, Nova Scotia. She's an avid blogger and is an active member of PEN Canada as well as an Associate Editor of Fiction for The Antigonish Review.
Her first novel, The Birth House was published by Knopf Canada in 2006 as their New Face of Fiction's 10th anniversary title (publication by Luitingh Sijthoff - Holland, and Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag -Random House Germany to follow).
- Jerome: The Historical Spectacle. Gaspereau Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-1554470631
- Click here for more information.
- The Birth House. Knopf Canada (February 2006) ISBN: 0-676-97772-3.
- The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, a young woman destined to become a midwife in a small Nova Scotia fishing village during World War I. Filled with details that are as interesting as they are surprising - childbirth in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, the use of vibrators to cure hysteria, the Voice of the Moon, and a mysterious elixir called Beaver Brew - Ami McKay has created an unforgettable tale of the struggles women faced in having the right to control their own bodies, and in keeping the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.
- Click here for more information.
- Christ on a Bike, short story - Room of One's Own
- Daughter of Family G, Feature Documentary for CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition
- 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 This Morning
