Bio

Jay McKenzie is the author of Mim and Wiggy’s Grand Adventure. Her work appears in adda, Maudlin House, Fictive Dream, Fahmidan Journal, The Hooghly Review, Roi Faineant and others. She has won prizes such as the Exeter Story Prize, The Henshaw Prize and others and shortlisted for The Edinburgh Story Award, Exeter Novel Prize, The Alpine Fellowship, Bath Short Story Award, Fish Short Story Prize, Oxford Flash Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She has lived in Greece, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Australia. Her next novel How to Lose the Lottery will be released by Harper Fiction in Spring 2026. She lives with her husband, daughter and too many cardigans, and is represented by Hellie Ogden at WME.

Project

During the residency, McKenzie intends to work on my next novel: as of yet untitled. This novel will be published with HarperCollins UK, and will be the second book in the two-book deal agreed with editor Martha Ashby in October 2024. The novel explores the journey of a woman in her forties, Jaynie, dealing with the discovery of a sister she never knew she had and the challenges of becoming a sister just as she is orphaned. The novel will be an exploration of loneliness, perceptions of family and grief, told through the lens of gentle humour and tender moments. Her style is contemporary commercial fiction.