Michael McKinley
Writer & Teacher & Filmmaker
I was born in Vancouver, Canada and educated at the University of British Columbia, the University of Quebec, and the University of Oxford. I am a journalist, author, screenwriter, and filmmaker, and I have taught fiction writing at Simon Fraser University, the Vancouver Film School, Oxford University (summer program); and Cambridge University (summer program). I have also directed summer programs at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and have overseen staff of 75+. I have given guest talks on writing at the University of Mississippi, at Houston Community College, and at the Arthur Carter Institute at NYU. I am a citizen of the United States, Canada, and Ireland. I live in Brooklyn, New York.
BOOKS
2024: Diamond Dust: How a Nice Mormon Boy Became Utah’s Consummate Counterfeiter, with Russ Swain, Pierian Springs Press.
2024: A Quiet Life, with William Cooper, Arcade, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing.
2024: Lou Vairo: The Godfather of U.S. Hockey, with Lou Vairo, Rowman $ Littlefield
2020: Willie: The Game Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player, with Willie O’Ree (Viking) Named one of the top twenty books of 2020 by the CBC, also nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/ Autobiography.
2018: Yardley’s Ace: Making and Breaking American Military Intelligence, Amazon Publishing.
2017: Ice Capades: A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey, with Sean Avery, Dutton & Viking.
2015: The Codebreakers: The Secret Intelligence Unit that Changed the Course of the First World War. With James Wyllie. Ebury.
2015: Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery. Companion book to my CNN series. With D.Gibson, St. Martin’s Press.
2014: It’s Our Game: Celebrating 100 Years of Hockey Canada, Viking.
2014: Facetime, a psychological thriller novella, Amazon Kindle Singles.
2012: Hockey Night in Canada: 60 Seasons, Viking.
2010: The Penalty Killing: A Martin Carter Mystery, nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award as best first crime novel. McClelland & Stewart
2006: Hockey: A People’s History, CBC, and McClelland & Stewart.
2000: Putting a Roof on Winter: Hockey’s Rise from Sport to Spectacle, Greystone.
JOURNALISM (Digital and Print)
As a journalist, I have written for The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, Vancouver Sun, National Post, Saturday Night Magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Food & Wine, New York Observer, New York Daily News, Politics Daily, Washington Post, The Players Tribune, America Magazine, Comic Relief, and have won national news and magazine writing awards.
TV AND FILM
2024: Let’s Do a Miracle, a feature documentary about the life and work of Elissa Montanti. Written, directed and co-produced.
2023: Dead Right, a TV drama series in development with Night Fox Entertainment.
2023: Lincoln’s Law, a TV drama series, created with Mark Hoeger and in development with Night Fox Entertainment.
2021: The Killer in Hot Springs, a feature film in development, created with Michael Sofranko, Eric Chase, and Tomas Elliott.
2021; Singers Anonymous, a TV reality series in development, created with Julia Amisano, Alice Barrett Mitchell, and Julia Barrett-Mitchell
2021: The Shakespeare Project, a feature documentary, created with Nick Hutchison and Nancy Bell and Simon Kennedy, in development with Firewater Partners, London.
2021: Wills, a feature screenplay written with Nancy Bell and John-Paul Niagara.
2018: Co-Executive Producer of the one-hour TV documentary “Engraved on a Nation: Jacques Villeneuve and Larry Walker, 1997” aired on TSN, February 2019.
2017: Created and co-produced The Jesus Strand, a feature documentary, History TV.
2015, 2017: Created and co-produced Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery for CNN.
2010: Created, co-wrote, and produced “After Jesus” for CNN.
2008: Created, co-wrote, and produced “The Two Marys” for CNN, winner of the Gracie Award for Best Hour-long Documentary aired in the US.
2006: Wrote dramatic sections of the “Solar Storm” and “Ice Storm” episodes of “Perfect Disasters”, Discovery Channel
2005: Wrote the dramatic sections of “Lost in the Snow” for “I Shouldn’t Be Alive”, Discovery Channel.
2004: Created, co-wrote, and produced “The Mystery of Jesus” for CNN.
1998: Created, co-produced, and wrote “Sacred Ballot,” about the election of the successor to John Paul II. CBC and CNN
1992: Writer, feature film, Impolite, winner of BC Film’s New Views Award.