Janis Mackay
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Janis Mackay (born 1959) is a Scottish writer and author of a dozen books, mostly for children. She has won the Kelpies Prize and the Scottish Children's Book Award. Her first book for adults was published in 2025. She also works as a lecturer in creative writing for Edinburgh University.
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Janis Mackay | |
|---|---|
in 2026 | |
| Born | 1959 (age 66–67) |
| Occupation | writer, poet and story teller |
| Nationality | British |
| Genre | children's books |
| Website | |
| www | |
Life
Mackay was born in Edinburgh in 1959.[1] When she was 21 she set out on a career as a journalist in London, but she discovered that this was not the job she was looking for. She became a drama teacher when she returned from a break where she travelled.[2]
Mackay left drama teaching to study creative writing at the University of Sussex where she completed a master's degree in 2004.[3]
She was appointed as a writer in residence by the Scottish Arts Council to reside in Caithness in northern Scotland. She was there for five years and she wrote poetry about the landscape[4] and her first book.[5] Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest, won the Kelpies Prize in 2009.[1][6] The next book, Magnus Fin and the Selkie Secret, continued the story.
Mackay had a short residence in Helsinki in 2012.[1]
In 2013 she won the Scottish Children's Book Award for her book The Accidental Time Traveller. She received £3,000. She was congratulated by The Guardian and the paper published a list of the top ten books she had read that were set "on the ocean". Her first choice was Kidnapped.[7]
In 2022 she was one of ten writers who created work to support a bid to gain UNESCO World Heritage Status for the Flow Country.[8] The Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland and its blanket bog system gained World Heritage Status in 2024.[9]
Her thirteenth book was her first for adults and it was published in 2025. The story is set in a fictional village by the sea in Caithness and it concerns a lonely fisherman and his encounter with what he believes to be a selkie.[10]
Family
Mackay's aunt Helen Crummy founded the Craigmillar Festival Society and she has a statue in Edinburgh.[2]
Awards
Books include
- Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest[11]
- Magnus Fin and the Selkie Secret
- Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest
- The Accidental Time Traveller
- The Reluctant Time Traveller
- The Unlikely Time Traveller
- The Selkie Girl
- The Fairy Song (illustrated by Ruchi Mhasane)
- Jump into the New (illustrated by Alfredo Belli)
- The Watchmakers Wife
- The Wee Seal (with Gabby Grant)
- Wild Song
- On a Northern Shore, 2025