Jackie Kay

(1961 – present) - Glasgow

Jackie Kay was born in Edinburgh to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father. She was subsequently adopted by a white couple from Glasgow and grew up there. Her adoptive parents, with whom she remains very close, were Communists and often took the children to anti-apartheid protests and peace rallies.

After school Jackie attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where she took acting classes with the hope of becoming an actress. However, when some of her poems made it to the writer Alasdair Gray, he suggested that she had the talent to write and Kay enrolled in Stirling University, where she read English.

Jackie is a renowned poet, playwright and author, who was first published in 1991, with her collection of poetry, The Adoption Papers. This book reflected her own experiences as a black child being raised by a white family.

The Adoption Papers won the Scottish Arts council Book Award, the Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award and a commendation by the Forward Poetry Prize judges in 1992. The collection was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 1990.

Her first novel, Trumpet, was published in 1998 and was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize. It was also short-listed for the international IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The book is based on the life of the jazz musician Billy Tipton, who had fooled five wives and many band members into believing him to be a man. In fact Dorothy Tipton decided to dress like a man in 1933 and wasn't discovered until medical intervention revealed the truth on his deathbed. Jackie has also written an account of the life of jazz singer Bessie Smith.

In 2002 Jackie published a collection of short stories, Why Don't You stop Talking, and her first children's book, Strawgirl. Her latest collection of poetry, Fiere, takes its name from an old Scots word meaning companion or friend, and Kay has also written the autobiographical Red Dust Road.

She has one son, born in 1988, and lives in Manchester.

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  The Adoption Papers
  Jackie Kay - Paperback - Bloodaxe
  This work tells the story of a black girl's adoption by a white Scottish couple. The story is told from three different viewpoints - the mother, the birth mother and the daughter.
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  £8.49
  Fiere
  Jackie Kay - Paperback - Picador
  Jackie Kay's latest collection of poems is inspired by the journey she undertook to write her memoir, 'Red Dust Road'. Her new poems explore what it means to have roots, specifically roots in different cultures - with old Scots and modern Scots alongside poems inspired by Ibo dialect, and poems inspired by African and European art.
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  The Lamplighter
  Jackie Kay - Book with sound disc - Bloodaxe
  This work takes the the reader on a journey through the dark heart of slavery. It is both a radio and stage play and a multi-layered epic poem. This edition also includes Kay's much-acclaimed BBC radio play on CD.
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  £11.04
  Reality, Reality
  Jackie Kay - Hardback - Picador
  At the beating heart of 'Reality, Reality' are moments of reaching out to family, friends and lovers. These are stories about food, sex and memories, about sharing them, or yearning to, or seeking solace in being alone.
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  Red Dust Road
  Jackie Kay - Paperback - Picador
  In this revelatory and redemptive book Jackie Kay tells the story of her own life. It is a book about belonging and beliefs, strangers and family, biology and destiny and what makes us who we are.
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  Trumpet
  Jackie Kay - Paperback - Picador
  Joss Moody has died and the jazz world is in mourning. But in death, Joss can no longer guard the secret he kept all his life, and Colman, his son, must confront the truth: the man he believed to be his father was, in fact, a woman.
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  Why Don't You Stop Talking
  Jackie Kay - Paperback - Picador
  Following on from Kay's award-winning first novel, 'Trumpet', comes a collection of superlative stories. The stories cover emotional and narrative terrain, from an immaculate observation of the female physiognomy to the bewilderment of the elderly.
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  Wish I Was Here
  Jackie Kay - Paperback - Picador
  In this collection of stories, Jackie Kay explores every aspect of love - the most overwhelming and complicated of human emotions, exposing the moments of tenderness, shock, bravery and remorse that accompany its pursuit, its passions, its passing.