Keith Gray has written a number of award-winning novels for teenage readers including The Runner, which won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Silver Award); Hunting the Cat (1996), a story based on the legends of big cats; From Blood: Two Brothers (1997), about two 18-year olds; Dead Trouble (1997), about two teenage boys who find a gun; and Malarkey (2003), shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize.
Recent books include Warehouse (2002), set in the docklands of a small northern town, also shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize and Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award, and winner of the 2003 Angus Book Award; The Fearful (2005), shortlisted for the 2005 Catalyst Book Award; Ghosting (2008); and Ostrich Boys (2008), shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award, the 2009 Carnegie Medal, and the Booktrust Teenage Prize. In 2011 Carl Miller's adaptation of Ostrich Boys premiered at the Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham.