Jackie Kay

Named Scots Makar (National Poet for Scotland) in 2016 she explores the complexity of identity in her works.

Jackie Kay. © Denise Else

Jackie Kay (Edinburgh, 1961) was named Scots Makar – the National Poet for Scotland – in March 2016. Jackie was awarded an MBE in 2006, and made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002. She also writes children’s literature and plays, and has written extensively for stage and television. She is Chancellor of the University of Salford and Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University.

The Adoption Papers (Bloodaxe, 1991) won the Forward Prize, a Saltire Prize and a Scottish Arts Council Prize. Fiere (Picador, 2011), her most recent collection of poems, was shortlisted for the Costa award. Her novel Trumpet (Picador, 1998) won the Guardian Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the IMPAC award. Red Dust Road (Picador, 2011) won the Scottish Book of the Year Award, the London Book Award and was shortlisted for the J.R. Ackerley Prize. Her book of stories Wish I Was Here (Picador, 2011) won the Decibel British Book Award.

Update: 19/12/2016 12:00 am

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