BiographyJaqueline Margaret KayBorn November 9, 1961 -- Edinboro, Scotland. Ms. Kay, who is of African descent, was adopted at an early age by a white Scottish couple. This background information is revelant because Ms. Kay often reflects her personal life in her work. Her first collection of poetry, "The Adoption Papers", deals with the adoption of a young black girl by a white couple. Lorna Sage, the editor of "The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English" quotes Ms. Kay as saying she started writing ìbecause there wasnít anybody else saying the things I wanted to say and because I felt quite isolated in Scotland and being black...I started out of that sense of wanting to create some image of myselfî(361). Ms. Kay attended the University of Sterling where she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English in 1983. She worked as a tour coordinator for traveling poets in Britain after school, then her work started to gain attention. The play "Chiaroscuro" was written for the Theater of Black Women and performed in 1986. In 1988 Ms. Kay's son Matthew was born, and the play "Twice Over" was written for the Gay Sweatshop. For television production Ms. Kay wrote the terse play "Hidden Fears", and "Twice Through the Heart." "The Adoption Papers" was published in 1991, followed by a book of children's poetry entitled "Two's Company" in 1992. A second adult collection, "Other Lovers," was published in 1993. "Twice Through the Heart" followed in 1997. Ms. Kay published her first novel "Trumpet" in 1998. She presently resides in Manchester, England with Carol Ann Duffy, a poet who recently was considered for the post of Poet Laureate. ReferencesRiggs, Thomas ed. 6th ed. Contemporary Poets. Detroit: St. James Press, 1995. Sage, Lorna. Adivisory eds. Greer, Germaine and Showalter, Elaine. The Cambridge Guide to Womenís Writing in English. Cambridge: United Kingdom, Cambridge UP,1999. |