The Author

Please see my “About” page for full bio, awards, affiliations and such.

Author Pics may be found HERE.

Accolades, Author Interviews, Features and Reviews for The Virgin Cure

Accolades-

CBA Libris Award “Book of the Year” Nominee
O Magazine July 2012 “The Books of Summer” pick
Book of the Month Club “Blue Ribbon Pick”

Interviews –

My interview with the wonderful Shelagh Rogers – where we dish about inspiration, women’s history, the Lower East Side Tenement Musuem, and the streets of 19th Century New York. For CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter.

Erica Ehm of MuchMusic and YummyMummy Club fame surprised me at lunch one day with this lovely interview.

Features –

• Mothers and daughters find bond in Ami McKay’s new novel, Globe & Mail 26 Nov 2011,  by John Barber
• Ami McKay’s The Virgin Cure, CBC  9 Nov, 2011 by Susan Noakes
• Q & A with Ami McKay, Chronicle-Herald  6 Nov, 2011 by Jodi DeLong
• Ami McKay’s doctor’s notes, The Coast,  20 Oct, 2011by Jaime Forsythe

Reviews-

“McKay has created an engaging and wonderfully well-developed narrator, all the more impressive because even though she is among society’s most powerless, her determination inspires more admiration than pity. Thought provoking and beautifully rendered, The Virgin Cure explores both the horrors people are capable of inflicting and the dignity that can accrue to those who oppose them.” –Booklist

“…a finely crafted and remarkably researched tale…”
The Walrus – Dec 2011by Stacey May Fowles

“Strongly delineated characters and a vivid historical backdrop … [a] reflective novel, which quietly conveys fierce indignation about the savagery with which the rich prey on the poor in a world ruled by money.” -Kirkus

“McKay’s ability to make Moth’s slum experience visceral is testament to her meticulous research and storytelling prowess.” Globe & Mail – 5 Nov, 2011 by Christine Fischer Guy

“A powerful novel, rooted in the same elements that made The Birth House both critically lauded and a bestseller…. One of McKay’s gifts and skills as a writer is her ability to utterly immerse the reader in her fictional world…. A powerful, affecting novel.” National Post – 28 Oct, 2011 by Robert J. Wiersema

“This will be another big book for McKay….another memorable fictional voyage.”
January Magazine – 22 Oct, 2011 by Sienna Powers

“McKay dramatizes Moth’s beginnings with a masterful hand….she delivers another compelling story inhabiting the borderlands of popular and literary fiction.”
Montreal Gazette – 11 Nov, 2011 by Elaine Kalman Naves

“…a world populated with characters that will linger with the reader long after you finish its story.”
Chronicle-Herald – 6 Nov, 2011 by Jodi DeLong

“A lovely novel, written in a style that is both clean and subtle. McKay’s voices are true; her characters sympathetic…. I’m certain readers will take to The Virgin Cure just as they did The Birth House.”
Vancouver Sun, 22 Oct, 2011 – by Tracey Sherlock

“…this is a must-read…if you enjoyed The Birth House, you will LOVE The Virgin Cure.” 5 out of 5 rating
Turning the Pages – 20, Oct, 2011

• The Birth House
  Features –
  
• “A star author is born: How Ami McKay’s The Birth House became the hottest debut novel of the year”by Susan Catto. Quill & Quire, December 2006
• “Birth of a Novel” by Andrea Curtis for CBC.ca Arts
• Birth of a Novelist: Jodi DeLong’s Feature interview and review. It first ran in the Halifax Chronicle Herald in February, 2006
• CBC Radio’s Sounds Like Canada Listen to Ami’s interview with Shelagh Rogers. One of my all-time favourite interviews. First aired April 5, 2006.
• Under Cover – Ami interviews Canadian book designer, Kelly Hill…they talk about inspiration, pregnant bellies, and what went into the design of The Birth House.
• Long before I wrote The Birth House I made this radio documentary with CBC’s Dick Miller. My thanks to the wonderful Canada Reads team who “unearthed” Kitchen Ghosts from the CBC archives so you can have a listen to my first stumbling attempt at telling the tale.
• I was asked to create a playlist by Tom Allen of CBC’s “Shift”. I really enjoyed exercising my musical chops and you can listen to the interview, as well as the songs I choose, here.
• Bookmadam’s Intangaview with me during Canada Reads.
• The Keepin’ it Real Bookclub “Civilians Read” interview and Canada Reads tie-in.

Reviews

• Maureen Garvie’s review of The Birth House for the April print issue of Quill and Quire.
• Robert J. Wiersema’s review of The Birth House, from the Ottawa Citizen. “Bundle of Joy”, February 2006.
• Heather Reisman’s Review of The Birth House for Heather’s Pick @Chapters.ca
• Reviews and Features about The Birth House have also appeared in:
  The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The Calgary Herald, The National Post, and are available to subscribers.
• The Coast’s review by Sue Carter Flinn for Jerome: The Historical Spectacle
• Quill & Quire by Laurel Smith for Jerome: The Historical Spectacle
• “The Past on Display” review of Jerome: The Historical Spectacle by Marlene Moser for Canadian Literature.