Laura Jean McKay

1978–

Laura Jean McKay is an Australian writer, born in Orbost, Victoria, and raised in Sale in Gippsland. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami she worked for international aid organisations in Cambodia. She took an MA in creative writing and then a PhD at the University of Melbourne, and wrote her novel The Animals in That Country as part of her doctorate. Published in 2020, its story of a pandemic that lets humans understand animals won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and she recorded the audiobook herself. She has taught creative writing at Massey University in New Zealand since 2019.

Timeline of Laura Jean McKay’s life

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