Image: Tom Doig
Laura Jean McKay is the author of The Animals in That Country (Scribe 2020) - winner of the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award, The Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year and co-winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2021.
Laura is also the author of Holiday in Cambodia and her latest collection is Gunflower (Scribe 2023), shortlisted for the 2024 Queensland Literary Awards and named one of The Guardian’s best books of 2023.
An Adjunct Lecturer in Creative Writing at Massey University, she was awarded the 2022 NZSA Waitangi Day Literary Honours and is the 2025 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow.
Laura gratefully acknowledges the First Nations people of Meeanjin Country - Yagara people and Turrbal people. She pays her respect to Elders of these Countries and their connections to the land, rivers and communities, as well as to First Nations people across the continent.
This current work has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Laura also gratefully thanks Avid Reader for their immense support - the best independent book shop!