McKay was social affairs correspondent, and later Northern Ireland editor, for the Sunday Tribune.
[1] during which she won a number of awards, including Print Journalist of the Year in 2000[2] and Feature Writer of the Year[3] In 1998, she published her first book, Sophia's Story the biography of a survivor of child abuse Other books include Northern Protestants – An Unsettled People,[4] McKay has described as "a study of the people I uneasily call my own.
From 2009 to 2012, McKay was CEO of the National Women's Council of Ireland, but resigned in protest at a cut by the government of 40% of the organisation's funds.
[6] She has produced award-winning documentaries for radio and television, including The Daughter's Story,[7] about the daughters of Fran O'Toole, one of the victims of the Miami Showband Massacre in 1975, and Inez, A Challenging Woman[8] about Northern Irish trade union leader and human rights activist Inez McCormack.
The citation stated: "Susan McKay is a powerful writer and journalist with a distinctive voice of her own, as is evident to anyone who reads her features in The Irish Times, The Guardian, or the London Review of Books, The New Yorker, or the New York Times - but just as striking is her ability to listen.