Alistair Mackay (born 1984) is a South African novelist, short story writer and columnist.

His debut novel It Doesn't Have To Be This Way was chosen by Brittle Paper as one of the 100 Notable African Books of 2022,[1] and was long-listed for both the 2023 British Science Fiction Association Awards (for best novel)[2] and the 2023 Sunday Times Literary Awards (for best fiction).

[3] Mackay studied Politics at Edinburgh University, Scotland, and later completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia University in New York City.

[4] Mackay's short stories have been published in Brittle Paper,[5] New Contrast, The Kalahari Review and in the anthologies Queer Africa 2 (MaThoko's Books, 2017), which was shortlisted for a Lambda Award for best anthology in 2018[6] and Queer Africa: Selected Stories (New Internationalist, 2018).

His first novel, It Doesn't Have To Be This Way, was published in South Africa by Kwela in 2022.