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Janis Mackay

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.janismackay.com/

Genre

Children's, Fiction, Mystery

Member Since

April 2025

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I am from Edinburgh, have travelled a lot, lived in France, Palestine, Greece, London, Sussex, the far north of Scotland, and am now living in the beautiful Scottish Borders with a partner, a writing hut and a river in my garden. I always wanted to be a writer but following advice to get ‘a proper job’ I took myself off to the big city of London when I was just nineteen and trained to be a journalist. By 21 I was a journalist on Fleet Street – but soon realised this wasn’t the kind of writing I wanted to do. So off I went – round the world having all kinds of adventures – sailing yachts, sleeping on beaches, looking after children, working on kibbutz…then back to Scotland for more adventures – looking after children with learning disabiliti I am from Edinburgh, have travelled a lot, lived in France, Palestine, Greece, London, Sussex, the far north of Scotland, and am now living in the beautiful Scottish Borders with a partner, a writing hut and a river in my garden. I always wanted to be a writer but following advice to get ‘a proper job’ I took myself off to the big city of London when I was just nineteen and trained to be a journalist. By 21 I was a journalist on Fleet Street – but soon realised this wasn’t the kind of writing I wanted to do. So off I went – round the world having all kinds of adventures – sailing yachts, sleeping on beaches, looking after children, working on kibbutz…then back to Scotland for more adventures – looking after children with learning disabilities then studying speech and drama. I became a storyteller, drama teacher and voice teacher. I did this for a long while – which was a great learning for a writer, then I remembered my childhood dream – to be a writer. So I took myself off to university, did an MA in creative writing at Sussex University – and wrote!

The Scottish Arts Council sent me up to the far north of Scotland to be a writer in residence. I didn’t even know where Caithness was but that’s where I went, and soon realised Scotland wasn’t as small as I had thought. It’s miles away! I lived there for five years – in a cottage on the beach writing books about the sea and seals and was lucky to win the Kelpies prize 2009 for my first novel – Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest. (I say first novel but actually I had several other novels gathering dust in drawers.) So since 2007 I have been what you might call ‘a writer.’ And sometimes doing other related things like storytelling and voice teaching.

I went to Duddingston primary school and Portobello High school where I learnt to touch type, speak French, a bit of German, play squash and spell. I suppose I must have learnt a few social skills as there were two and a half thousand of us at Portobello High school!

I was a child and teenage athlete and I am really glad about that. The Commonwealth Games came to Edinburgh when I was about ten and it was very inspiring and I went along to the races with my dad. Then I joined the Edinburgh Southern harriers and spent the next five years running and jumping and throwing a discus, but mostly running and going off all over Scotland on Saturdays to run up hills cross country. I am pretty fit and healthy now and I think that gave me a good boost.

When I visit schools with my Magnus Fin novels children often ask what books I read as a child and I usually answer (rather embarrassed) Mallory Towers! I wanted to be that girl in the attic who wrote stories. But before that, when I was very wee, I loved nursery rhymes, and like athletics I think they gave me a boost into being a writer. I love language and sounds and I remember being really young and loving the sound on my tongue of nursery rhymes like Doctor Foster went to Gloucester or – with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she shall have music where ever she goes! ...more

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Janis Mackay's Blog

caravan heaven

I have a caravan on the west coast overlooking the beautiful islands of Eigg and Rum and Muck. How’s that for words! And in this caravan there is no electricity, or internet connection, and very little mobile phone signal. I gaze at the sea, walk, write, talk….. and listen to the birds and the waves. Inspiration to write stories, it seems, needs that big space, like big listening. Janis Mackay

a wonderful tree

Combine Editions
Janis Mackay’s books

Average rating: 4.01 · 716 ratings · 161 reviews · 23 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Accidental Time Traveller 3.80 avg rating — 227 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Selkie Girl by Janis Mackay (Goodreads Author), Ruchi Mhasane (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 4.03 avg rating — 112 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wild Song 4.01 avg rating — 91 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest (Magnus Fin, #1) 4.18 avg rating — 61 ratings — published 2010 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Reluctant Time Traveller 4.04 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On a Northern Shore 4.32 avg rating — 38 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fairy Song by Janis Mackay (Goodreads Author), Ruchi Mhasane (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 4.30 avg rating — 27 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magnus Fin and the Selkie Secret (Magnus Fin, #3) 4.25 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission (Magnus Fin, #2) 4.39 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 2011 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Unlikely Time Traveller 4.11 avg rating — 19 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Janis Mackay…

Series by Janis Mackay

Magnus Fin (3 books)
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Janis Mackay (Goodreads Author)

4.24 avg rating — 108 ratings

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Janis’s Recent Updates

Janis Mackay and 10 other people liked Paul Dembina's review of Muckle Flugga: "I really struggled to get through this one. The overly florid and overwrought prose really distanced me from characters I didn't find all that interesting. One for the charity shop."
Mar 23, 2026 09:47AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Janis Mackay liked Reader's review of On a Northern Shore: "I was gripped from the second page. Love the almost poetic descriptions and references to Scottish mythology and sayings. The characterisation provoked deep connections to the main plot of the story which kept you guessing almost to the very last pag" Read more of this review »
Sep 04, 2025 08:41AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of On a Northern Shore by Janis Mackay. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — On a Northern Shore by Janis Mackay <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">