Leo McKay Jr. (born June 19, 1964) is a Canadian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

writer from

Stellarton Stellarton is a town located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of New Glasgow. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albio ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

. He also is a periodic contributor to '' The Globe and Mail''.Bad heart, good tale Leo McKay Jr.. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Sep 22, 2007. pg. D.17

Early life

McKay was born and raised in the town of

Stellarton, Nova Scotia Stellarton is a town located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of New Glasgow. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albion Mi ...

, where he graduated from Stellarton High School in 1982. He grew up in the small working class Stellarton neighborhood called the Red Row, a neighborhood of hundred-year-old mining company duplexes and a tight-knit community of working-class people. His parents grew up in the same neighborhood. His mother, Georgina Bellick, was the daughter of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants. His father, Leo McKay Sr., who lived in the Red Row until his death in 2011, was a riveter at the railcar factory in nearby Trenton before becoming a career labour leader, social activist, New Democrat politician, and eventually a member of Stellarton Town Council. He studied English at

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Fra ...

, French at Laval, Creative Writing at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

and Education at Dalhousie. He lived in Asia for four years.

Career

McKay teaches

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

Cobequid Educational Centre Cobequid Educational Centre (CEC) is a high school located in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. CEC serves not only the town of Truro, but rural areas in Central and West Colchester County. The school is one of the largest high schools in the province o ...

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro c ...

.Cobequid Educational Centre Faculty
''cec.ccrsb.ca'', Retrieved May 20, 2008. McKay became one of the first recognized literary writers to embrace

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

. During the 2010 CBC

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Fren ...

competition, McKay used

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and especially

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, to promote his 2003 novel ''Twenty-Six'' as one of the Best Canadian Novels of the previous decade. He used hand-shot, self-produced videos called "Twenty-six Reasons Why You Should Vote for ''Twenty-Six'' For Canada Reads 2010". The novel made the 40 book long list, and that success spurred McKay to further use of social media as a promotional tool. In the spring of 2012, McKay used an online funding site, Indiegogo.com, to fund the independent publication of a new novel, ''Roll Up the Rim''. That campaign raised $10,000 in 30 days, and was chosen by Indiegogo.com as an example of how to run a successful online funding campaign.

Recognition

McKay's debut short story collection, ''Like This'', was short-listed for the

Giller Prize The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competition ...

in 1995 and received the Dartmouth Book Award for fiction in 1996.Dartmouth Book Awards Winners
, ''halifax.ca'', Retrieved May 20, 2008. His first novel, '' Twenty-Six'', was published in 2003. It became a national bestseller,Twenty-Six
''bukowskiagency.com'', Retrieved May 20, 2008 and won the 2004 Dartmouth Book Award.

Published works

* ''Like This'' (1996) * '' Twenty-Six'' (2003) * ''Roll up the Rim'' (2013)

References

External links

Author's page on agent's website

Author's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Leo Jr. 1964 births Living people Canadian male novelists Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian male short story writers People from Pictou County People from Truro, Nova Scotia Writers from Nova Scotia 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers