Jay McKenzie grew up in the North East surrounded by storytellers and Catherine Cookson novels, before attending Bretton Hall College of the Arts in the beautiful Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Since graduating ( a long time ago! Her degree is old enough to have a degree!) she has worked as a holiday rep, a performing arts teacher, a life model and a street theatre performer in Greece, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and Australia.
Her short stories and flash fiction appear in adda, Bath Flash, Maudlin House, Fictive Dream, The Hooghly Review, Fahmidan Journal, Roi Faineant and others. She has won prizes such as the Exeter Story Prize, the Fish Short Story Prize, Quiet Man Dave and others, and shortlisted for the Edinburgh Story Award, Exeter Novel Prize, The Alpine Fellowship, Oxford Flash Fiction Prize, Bath Short Story Award, Bridport Prize and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
Her novel How to Lose the Lottery will be published with HarperFiction in Spring 2026.
She has a penchant for knitwear and lives with her husband, daughter and too many cardigans. She has a dog called Duck.
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