Sudbury based author writes series based on real-life sex workers

Greater Sudbury author pens first novel From CTV Northern Ontario’s Tony Ryma: 87-year-old Hanmer resident writes book about the love of Canada, Ireland and life.

Sudbury — Angel May Mckay has always been a writer.

"I wrote a lot of inspirational journals. I also help people writing their biographies but this, it came about as a biography," McKay said. "It was about Alison Lindsey McKeen, and it was a girl that I heard about that went missing in the Sault and was later found dead. She was a minor and along doing my research for it there was a lot of blocks because it was the 80s, so I decided to do something a little bit different with it."

Coming from a Scottish background, McKay now lives in Canada. She ended up in Sudbury, Ont. during the pandemic.

Instead of creating just one book, she turned it into a series.

"I was making her a hero, but then when it was coming to an end, I had interviewed so many girls on the streets in the Sault and in Sudbury I couldn’t let the story end. So instead, I created a series and created a bond between these girls."

Ally, book one from the series called The Pack, came out in July and is only available online. McKay said she will finish the series while living in Sudbury before moving to the east coast later this year to write a spin-off series.

The author said she felt connected to the women in her stories and knew of the need out on the streets. She volunteers at the mission every Saturday handing out breakfast bags.

"I pack up anywhere from 100-160 bags for breakfast. We're making coffee for them," McKay said.

Officials with the mission said volunteers like McKay are really needed right now.

"For supper, now, we're feeding almost 300. So it's really unreal and volunteers are the lifeline of the Elgin Street Mission, of course without the volunteers we could never do this," said Gary Newbury, the founder of the Elgin Street Mission.

The mission currently has 30 active volunteers on a regular basis, however, Newbury said 30 more are needed.