Books by Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1961 to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father. She was adopted by a white couple at birth and brought up in Glasgow. A hugely gifted poet, her poems have appeared in many anthologies, and she has written for stage and television. Her novels have been widely praised, and she was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2006.
“I think The Adoption Papers is written with great affection. I think one of the things about Jackie Kay is her huge warmth and the depth of her understanding. I think it’s really interesting that she’s able to see the perspective of three different women all at once, so she intercuts the perspective of each, whereas in the other books, it’s more the woman seeing it from her own point of view. Jackie Kay’s got this huge generosity of spirit so she can see it from three different points of view. It’s heartbreaking how honestly she has the two mothers speaking. What an ability that is — to see into the mind of your mother with such sympathy in the way that she does.” Read more...
Dorothy Byrne, Journalist
Interviews with Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay recommends the best books of Poetry
The Scottish poet and novelist Jacki Kay chooses a life-affirming anthology and celebrates new female voices, contemporary black British talent and a poet with a quirky take on everything.
Interviews where books by Jackie Kay were recommended
Five Memoirs by Women, recommended by Dorothy Byrne
We have much to learn from the lives of women who came before us, says Dorothy Byrne, the British TV journalist and producer who is now president of a women’s college at the University of Cambridge. She recommends five of her favourite memoirs, all by women and notable for their searing truthfulness about everyday life.
