Janis Mackay

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Janis Mackay
Janis Mackay on 31 Jan 2026 at Heron and Willow bookshop (sq cropped).jpg
in 2026
Born1959 (age 66–67)
Edinburgh
Occupationwriter, poet and story teller
NationalityBritish
Genrechildren's books
Website
www.janismackay.com

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.

Contents

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 her ten best works 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

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Janis Mackay | HIAP". www.hiap.fi. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  2. 1 2 Stephen, Phyllis (2014-03-05). "Winners of Scottish Children's Book Awards announced today". The Edinburgh Reporter. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  3. ↑ "Janis Mackay - Award-Winning Scottish Writer and Storyteller". Luath Press. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  4. ↑ "Myth and folklore of Caithness inspires new book by Janis Mackay". JohnOGroat Journal. 2025-09-03. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  5. ↑ "Janis Mackay". Books from Scotland. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  6. 1 2 "Mackay wins Kelpies Prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  7. ↑ MacKay, Janis (2014-03-05). "Janis MacKay top 10 books set on the ocean". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  8. ↑ "Chapter and verse: How stories and poetry are shining new light on Scotland's iconic peatlands". The Scotsman. 2022-07-31. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  9. ↑ "Scotland's Flow Country wins Unesco world heritage listing". BBC News. 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2026-02-03.
  10. ↑ "Successful Borders children's author releases first adult novel". Border Telegraph. 2025-10-21. Retrieved 2026-02-02.
  11. ↑ Mackay, Janis (2011-12-08). Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest. Floris Books. ISBN   978-0-86315-890-2.
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