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Laura Jean McKay

ローラ・ジーン・マッケイ

Rōra Jīn Makkēi

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1978 （Orbost, Australia）
Nationality
Australian
Languages
English
Residence History
Sale, Victoria, Australia → Melbourne, Australia → Cambodia → Palmerston North, New Zealand

Career

Occupations
Author, Lecturer in creative writing
Active Years
2013-2025
Affiliations
Massey University
Influenced By
Janet Frame
Nominations
NSW Premier's Literary Awards Glenda Adams Award, Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Steele Rudd Award, Asher Award, ALS Gold Medal, Readings Prize, Stella Prize, Queensland Literary Awards Steele Rudd Award 2024, Prix Maya 2026, Prix 30 millions d’amis 2025

Education

University of Melbourne
Faculty of Arts / Creative Writing
Degree: MA
Country: Australia
While completing MA, wrote Holiday in Cambodia
University of Melbourne
Faculty of Arts / Creative Writing
Degree: PhD
Country: Australia
Wrote The Animals in That Country for PhD

Awards

Victorian Prize for Literature
2021
Work: The Animals in That Country
Category: 文学賞
Organization: State Library of Victoria
Result: 受賞
Arthur C. Clarke Award
2021
Work: The Animals in That Country
Category: 最優秀SF小説
Organization: British Science Fiction Association
Result: 受賞
Victorian Premier's Literary Award Fiction
2021
Work: The Animals in That Country
Category: フィクション
Organization: Victorian Government
Result: 受賞
Australian Book Industry Award
2021
Work: The Animals in That Country
Category: 中小出版社成人書
Result: 受賞
Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
2020
Work: The Animals in That Country
Category: SF小説
Result: 受賞 (共同)
NZSA Waitangi Day Literary Honour
2022
Organization: New Zealand Society of Authors
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Holiday in Cambodia

2013 Short story collection 216 pages

A short story collection examining the effects of expatriate life and foreign influence on Cambodian people.

Expatriate lifeCambodiaForeign influence

The Animals in That Country

2020 Speculative fiction novel 288 pages

Speculative fiction novel about interspecies communication triggered by a pandemic, inspired by chikungunya virus experience.

PandemicInterspecies communicationEnvironmental crisisClimate change
Translations
  • French: Les animaux de ce pays (2025, tr. Lise Garond)

Gunflower

2023 Short story collection with poems and vignettes 256 pages

Collection of short stories, poems, and vignettes over 20 years, focusing on non-human perspectives and precarious work.

Non-human perspectivesPrecarious workSurrealism

Bibliography

  • Holiday in Cambodia (2013)
  • The Animals in That Country (2020)
  • Gunflower (2023)

Translations of Works

  • Les animaux de ce pays (French, 2025)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
InnovativeSpeculativeNon-human perspectivesDark humour
Recurring Motifs
AnimalsPandemicsEnvironmentCross-cultural

Health

  • Chikungunya virus
    2013
    Inspired the novel The Animals in That Country.

Legacy

Award-winning speculative fiction author recognised with Victorian Prize for Literature and Arthur C. Clarke Award, noted for themes of animals, environment, and pandemics.

Quotes

  • I still turn to Frame when I've forgotten how to flip the world over and look at it from a new perspective.
    Source: Stuff.co.nz interview (2021)
  • I had spent years concocting the most impossible virus, only to witness a disease beyond my imagination... It was a relief to get back into the booth and read the sections where the animals start talking.
    Source: The Spinoff (2020)

Trivia

  • Coincidentally published pandemic novel about animals talking just before COVID-19.
  • Named Frank O'Connor International Fellow in 2025.