About

Kirstie McLellan Day has made an indelible contribution to Canada’s cultural landscape as an accomplished writer, film and television producer, playwright, newspaper columnist, business leader and philanthropist. But her proudest accomplishment is her contribution in raising awareness, through documentary film, television series and nonfiction books, issues surrounding child sexual abuse, violence against women and mental health.

With seven national bestsellers (five instant #1 bestsellers in a row) under her belt, including Wayne Gretzky’s #1 top selling non-fiction book in Canada for 2016, McLellan Day is considered one of the world’s top hockey book authors. 

Harper Collins Canada editor Jim Gifford credited her with creating a new genre of sports book. Maclean’s Magazine has dubbed her Canada’s “Ice Queen”, while the Globe and Mail called her “Hockey’s Leading Muse”.  

Kirstie spent the winter of 2016 working with Wayne Gretzky on his bestseller, 99: Stories of the Game. The Sports Illustrated review for the book said, “I have held (Ken Dryden’s) The Game as the best hockey book ever written… I can say that and more about this one. (Gretzky) has every record there is, (and now) might as well notch his name down for best hockey book.” 

One of her best-known books, Theo Fleury’s Playing with Fire, was on the national bestsellers list for more than 52 weeks and continues selling briskly to date. In fact, it has sold into the hundreds of thousands, a major feat for a non-fiction book in Canada. The book broke the story of the abuse Fleury suffered at the hands of his junior hockey coach. Playing with Fire was nominated for a prestigious Libris Award and has inspired hundreds of victims of abuse to seek help. 

Playing with Fire led to a feature length documentary for HBO and a one-man play Kirstie wrote. The play has won numerous awards and continues to tour across the county. First staged at Alberta Theatre Projects in 2012, it was named best theatrical production of the year. It also led to the powerful documentary that Kirstie produced called, Theo Fleury: Playing with Fire for HBO Canada. The film was accepted into Hot Docs and won The Garden State Film Festival for Best Overall.

Kirstie’s other hockey books include Cornered with Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean, as well as his second book Hockey Towns, a cross-country collection of emotionally powerful and personal stories from Canada’s favourite sport. Kirstie worked with the late Bob Probert on Tough Guy, which became a Reader’s Digest Book of Choice. And in 2017 she worked with former L.A. Kings goalie and Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster Kelly Hrudey on his top seller, Calling the Shots. In 2018 she worked on Cujo: The Untold Story of My Life On and Off the Ice, with Leafs goaltender great Curtis Joseph, which also debuted at #1. 

As former CEO of Pyramid Productions Inc., McLellan Day oversaw all of the company’s ongoing series and productions. In 2008, Kirstie executive-produced the dramatic feature In a World Created By a Drunken God. It was nominated for three Gemini Awards, including Best TV Movie.

Kirstie was born in Saskatchewan and studied drama at the University of Regina before moving on to work as an investigative journalist, television host and producer. 

She is the mother of five children and three grandchildren. 

McLellan Day got her start in writing as an entertainment reporter, then writing on The Criminal Mind, and next as lead writer for a series on A&E Biography Channel in New York. 

In 2017 BookNet Canada released a list of the 150 bestselling Canadian books since 2007. Author Robert Munsch topped the chart. McLellan Day was second on the list with five (now seven) bestsellers.

Recently, Kirstie stepped into the shoes of her late husband Larry Day mentoring and helping to develop Canadian Indigenous filmmakers. She is passionate about working to share Indigenous Peoples’ stories along with her friend and partner, Holly Fortier and their company, Two Canoes Media. Their film, Ayoungman, a story of an Indigenous mother’s grace and leadership recently won Best Short at The American Documentary and Animation Film Festival.