Melanie Schnell

Melanie Schnell is an acclaimed author and award-winning writer of TV, fiction, poetry and non-fiction.

Schnell grew up on a farm in southeastern Saskatchewan. She has lived, been educated and undertaken research for her work in the following places: Boston, Colombia, Kenya, Regina, South Sudan, Vancouver, Thailand and Toronto. She currently lives in Saskatchewan with her young son (who was born in 2009), where she teaches and is prepping for her second novel.

Schnell considers herself a “bit of a health nut who enjoys trying out new and yummy recipes. [She also] love[s] to cook, and [has] persuaded more than a few people in [her] life that healthy food can taste ridiculously good.”

Schnell has a Bachelor of Education degree with a major in English from the University of Regina and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing in the Fine Arts Program from the University of British Columbia.

While the Sun Is Above Us was awarded the Drs. Morris & Jacqui Shumiatcher Regina Book Award and the National Bank Financial Wealth Management First Book Award at Saturday night’s Saskatchewan Book Awards gala.

According to a review in The Globe and Mail "Schnell’s prose is transparent and true, and her voice is haunting, full of emotional clout. Hers are characters made of flesh and blood—they are brave, vulnerable, strong and, ultimately, alive with hope." Prairie Fire described her writing as: “. . . riveting . . . insightful and well-written.” Devin Pacholik commented: “While the Sun is Above Us has one of the best endings that I have read . . . unforgettable and captivating.” According to a review in Giraffe Days, the book tells “…a story rich in small details and big concepts, one that skilfully balances two vastly different narrative voices that drift about in time and space but never lose you on the way. I can see why this book took Schnell ten years to write and many trips to Sudan. It is powerful storytelling at its best that can’t fail to leave you untouched.” The Beach claims the book is a “must read for anyone interested in knowing what war does to those who have their homeland stripped away from them and the insatiability of the human need to survive.”

According to the Winnipeg Review, “By the end of the novel, the painful experiences of Adut and Sandra left me haunted, as Schnell tells her story with such clarity that I could smell the blood on their clothes and feel the hot sun beating down above them.”

Buffy Cram, author of Radio Belly (Buffy Cram) described her book as: "An urgent and powerful story about two women speaking to each other across every imaginable divide. This is a story that needed to be told!"