Contact Info

Melanie Schnell’s interests include creative writing pedagogy and craft, and long and short fiction. She engages in deep, immersive research as part of her storytelling practice. Some areas she has delved into for her novels include the culture of global warfare, the Sudan war and its politics, Dinka culture, slavery in war, child soldiers, the lives of trees and fungi, homelessness, mental illness, PTSD in the military, Norse Mythology, and the history of the British Home Children in Canada.  

Melanie Schnell’s novel, The Chorus Beneath our Feet, (Radiant Press, 2025) won the City of Regina Award and was shortlisted for The Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award, the Fiction Award, and the Publishing Award.

Her first novel, While the Sun is Above Us, (Freehand Books, 2012) won the Saskatchewan First Book Award and The City of Regina Award, and it was shortlisted for the Fiction Award and Book of the Year award. The novel has been listed as part of the ELA A30 curriculum in both Public and Catholic schools across Saskatchewan.

Melanie has published long and short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, and she has written for television.

Research Interests

• Writing Pedagogy
• Creative Writing
• Long and Short Fiction
• War Literature
• The Lives of Trees

Selected Publications

The Chorus Beneath Our Feet (novel). Regina: Radiant Press, October 2025.

While the Sun is Above Us (novel). Calgary: Freehand Books/Broadview Press, 2012.

Short Fiction

"The Colour Gold." Grain, Volume 53.2, 2026.

“Heart Calculation Finalem.” Maple Leaf Literary Supplement, Issue 26, 2023.

Poetry: “Chance Encounter.” Release Any Words Stuck Inside of You III, Applebeard Editions, 2021. “Survival/Memory.” Grain Magazine, Vol. 45, no. 4, Summer 2018.

Awards

2026: City of Regina Award (winner)

2026: Saskatchewan Book of the Year (shortlisted)

2026: Saskatchewan Fiction Award (shortlisted)

2026: Saskatchewan Publishing Award (shortlisted)

2022: International Literary Seminars Fiction Contest, The Chorus Beneath our Feet. (excerpt) Longlisted

2019: Summer Literary Seminars Poetry Contest, “Nobody Came.” Longlisted

2017: City of Regina Writing Award (SWG): Runner-Up

2013: City of Regina Award: Winner

2013: Saskatchewan First Book Award: Winner

2013: Saskatchewan Fiction Award: Shortlisted

2013: Saskatchewan Book of the Year: Shortlisted

2010: City of Regina Writing Award (SWG): Runner-Up

2008: Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild Short Manuscript Awards: 1st Place – Poetry