About Me

 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 debut novel Mim and Wiggy’s Grand Adventure was published in 2023 with Serenade (Australia).  Her short stories and flash fiction appear  in adda, Bath Flash, Maudlin House, Fictive Dream, The Hooghly Review, Fahmidan Journal, The Ulu Review, Roi Faineant and others. She has won prizes such as the Exeter Story Prize, Writers Playground, The Henshaw Prize, Furious Fiction and others and shortlisted for the Edinburgh Story Award, Exeter Novel Prize, The Alpine Fellowship, Bath Short Story Award, Fish Short Story Prize, 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.