Edward Kay

Edward Kay – biography

Edward Kay is an award-winning Toronto-based writer with an eclectic background in live-action and animated television comedy, as well as fiction and journalism. Like two of his literary heroes, Roald Dahl and Oscar Wilde, Edward is one of the relatively few writers to have a successful career writing for both adults and children.

Amongst the former group, Edward is perhaps best known for his work as a writer and producer on CBC’s hit political satire, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, during its four most successful seasons, when its ratings frequently topped 1.3 million viewers per show, an almost unprecedented number for the Canadian market. Edward then became producer and head writer of The Itch, a darkly humorous Canadian cult TV classic that launched the careers of both its stars, Jason Jones (The Daily Show) and Jessica Holmes (Royal Canadian Air Farce). He was a contributing writer to Rick Mercer’s Talking To Americans, and he co-wrote, produced and directed the CBC comedy special, I Dig BC, which irreverently mocked contemporary West Coast culture. Edward currently has a live-action feature in development with London-based Redwood Films, a trans-Atlantic romantic comedy entitled Lost In Montreal.

Edward became interested in writing for children too after appearing as a guest speaker at a “special ed” school in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where he was asked to explain his role as a television comedy writer on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Inspired by an hour of very agreeable and stimulating discussion with about a hundred children, he came away with a strong desire to write for such a thoughtful and receptive audience.

In response, Edward soon became involved with his first children’s project, co-creating Olliver’s Adventures, (along with animator and long-time friend Sean Scott). The award-winning animated comedy series follows the life of a lovable but ADHD-afflicted boy and his frenetically paced imaginary exploits. Olliver’s Adventures became a breakout hit, picked up not only by Teletoon in Canada, but by broadcasters in the U.K., Japan, Australia, and numerous countries in Europe.

More recently, Edward joined forces with Sean to co-create the darkly humorous animated series Jimmy Two Shoes. The series recently wrapped production of its second season, and airs on Teletoon in Canada, Jetix in Europe, and Disney XD in the United States. The show also airs throughout Asia and Latin America with various broadcasters.

Over the past decade, Edward has been a writer and story editor on more than a dozen popular animated series, including Atomic Betty, Carl 2, My Dad The Rock Star, What It’s Like Being Alone, Captain Flamingo, Being Ian, and League of Super Evil (and was shortlisted for the Canadian Screenwriting Awards for his work on the latter two shows).

His most recent original series is a collaboration with Jonathan Finkelstein of Apartment 11 Productions. Entitled Finding Stuff Out, the program stars Harrison Houde (the original “cheese touch kid” in the film adaptation of Diary of A Wimpy Kid) and blends comedy with science. It airs on TVO beginning January 2012. More details to follow…

Edward’s writing has garnered him numerous awards and nominations, including three Gemini Awards, three Canadian Comedy Awards, a Canadian Screenwriting Award, and an International Emmy nomination for his contributions to This Hour Has 22 Minutes. He also received two Leo Award nominations for co-writing and directing the CBC comedy special, I Dig BC. Additionally, the pilot episode of Olliver’s Adventures, which Edward wrote and produced, received a Gemini Award for Best Animated Program in 2001. Edward has also been nominated for Canadian Screenwriting Awards for his work on the animated children’s comedy, Being Ian, and League of Super Evil.

Prior to writing television comedy, Edward spent six years as a freelance journalist, covering a wide range of stories in the arts, science, travel, architecture/design and business. His work has been published in The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Magazine, Quill & Quire, Canadian Geographic, Equinox, enRoute, Azure, Eye Weekly, The Financial Post, and Reader’s Digest, among others. Edward still occasionally writes freelance articles on subject matters that interest him, most recently for CAA Magazine and Movie Entertainment. He has received two National Magazine Award Honourable Mentions for his print articles.

One of Edward’s life-long ambitions came to fruition in 2009 when Random House/Doubleday released his first novel, a science-based action comedy for middle-grade readers of both genders, entitled Star Academy. A sequel was ordered, and the result, STAR Academy: Dark Secrets, was released September 13, 2011. Edward has just been commissioned by Scholastic to write an historical novel about the Battle of the Atlantic.

Edward is so serious about children’s literature and programming that he maintains his own research and development department, consisting of a daughter, aged 8 15/16ths, and 2-year-old son.
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Edward’s email address:
edward@edwardkay.net