Andrew Gray (writer)


Andrew Neil Gray is a Scottish-born Canadian short story writer and novelist. In 2014 he is the Creative Writing Program Coordinator at the University of British Columbia, and founder and director of the university's low-residency Master of Fine Arts program.

Early life and education

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Gray moved with his family to Canada at the age of eight. While completing an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia he served as executive editor of the periodical Prism. He graduated in 1996.

Career

Gray's short story "Heart of the Land" was included in The Journey Prize Anthology in 2000. Gray published his first book of short stories, Small Accidents, in 2001. That book, which contained stories in which medical emergencies lead to interesting life experiences, was a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in 2002 and was shortlisted for an Independent Publisher Book Award in Fiction in 2003.
Gray edited the 2001 short story book Write Turns: New Directions in Canadian Fiction, which was reviewed in the November 2001 issue of Quill & Quire.
By 2007 Gray was directing the low-residency program at UBC. He was an early adopter the use of the internet to promote writing. In 2011 he was interviewed as an expert for Lori May's book The Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Prospective Creative Writing Students.
In 2014 Gray was the program coordinator for the University of British Columbia Creative Writing Program. That year he chaired Canada's Writing Conference, an annual national level gathering of writers.

Works