Former PR/Marketing professional is now an award-winning published author
A writer and editor for other people most of her career, Kay Jennings started a new chapter in her life as a published author in 2019 when she created the Port Stirling Mystery series. In 2024, she became an award-winner in the first author contest she entered when Mourning Bay was selected as a Killer Nashville Top Pick as one of the best books in 2023. Phantom Cove followed that by WINNING the Writer’s Digest best self-published book in the Mystery/Thriller category for 2024. She now writes full-time.
Kay’s focus during her years in the corporate world was PR, corporate communications, sports writing and editing. She’s been a writer/writing coach for Bleacher Report, a premier international sports website. Previously, she directed Internal Communications at Nike, Inc. She’s also held senior management positions in tourism and healthcare communications. Kay founded Paris Communications, a full-service communications firm in Portland, Oregon, which she’s owned since 2000.
Kay was born and raised near the Oregon coast in a small town not unlike her fictional Port Stirling. She now lives in Estacada, Oregon, with her husband, Steve, and spends much of her time in their five-acre garden. Traveling the world, playing bad golf, cooking, reading, hiking, and following several sports teams take up the rest.
She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters In Crime, Independent Book Publishers Association, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Willamette Writers, and Oregon Writers Colony.