Kayt Burgess, an Elliot Lake artistic success story

May 2024: Kayt told ARIEL, "This weekend I head to Toronto for the North American premiere of the film based on my first novel (Heidegger Stairwell)" - She left us a link for more information.

​Writer, artist, and musician Kayt (Lackie) Burgess (she/they) was born in Manitouwadge, Ontario and grew up in Elliot Lake. She studied classical music at the University of Western Ontario, publishing at Humber College, and creative writing at the University of Auckland and Bath Spa University.

Kayt’s first novel Heidegger Stairwell won the infamous 3 Day Novel Contest and was published by 3 Day Books and Arsenal Pulp Press in September 2012. It was shortlisted for the 2013 ReLit Award for Fiction and adapted as a feature length film, premiering March 2024 in London, UK.  Her second novel Connection at Newcombe was published in May 2021 by Latitude 46 Publishing.

​Kayt produces short stories, poems, songs, digital storytelling, stage plays and was a recurring staff writer on the hit fitness game Zombies, Run! She received a PhD in Digital Creative Writing (multimodal storytelling) from Bath Spa University.

The Elliot Lake resident has received grants from the Ontario Arts Council this year to work on a new novel set in Elliot Lake.  She’ll spend part of June in Haliburton at a dream writer's residency on Hall's Island, an uninhabited island, working on this new book. After that, Kayt will fly to Winnipeg as part of the (Art)Song Lab initiative to join Edmonton composer Aaron Addorisio for the world premiere of their new song. 

In addition to writing, Kayt runs a private music studio in northern Ontario where she teaches singing, piano, instruments and speech arts & drama. She is an Estill-trained voice teacher and coach who specializes in adult singers, teaching a variety of genres, in both popular and classical idioms. Over the summer, she will be offering workshops in songwriting and opening new coaching spots for singers. 

Next time you run into Kayt at an event or the grocery store, say congratulations.  She is proof that residents of Elliot Lake can live a creative life without leaving home for good.