Shelley A. Leedahl is a prolific multi-genre writer who divides her time between Ladysmith and Nanoose Bay, BC. The most recent of her thirteen books are Go (poetry, Radiant Press, Regina); The Moon Watched It All (children's illustrated, Illustrator Aino Anto, Red Deer Press); I Wasn't Always Like This (essays, Signature Editons. Winnipeg); Listen, Honey (short stories, DC Books, Montreal); Wretched Beast (poetry, BuschekBooks, Ottawa); and The House of the Easily Amused (poetry, Oolichan Books, Lantzville, BC). She continues to work in multiple genres, and in December 2024 was one of eight Canadian poets awarded a DC Reid Poets' Grant in support of her current poetry manuscript-in-progress.
In 2020 Leedahl was the recipient of a Canada Council for the Arts' Digital Originals grant, which faciliated the creation and professional production of her literary podcast "Something Like Love". Leedahl's work has frequently been anthologized in books ranging from Great Canadian Murder and Mystery Stories (Quarry Press) to The Best of the Best Canadian Poetry in English, Tenth Anniversary Edition (Tightrope Books). More recently her work has appeared in Don't Tell: Family Secrets (Demeter Press, 2022); Apart: A Year of Pandemic Poetry and Prose (Saskatchewan Writers Guild, 2021) and We Are One: Poems From the Pandemic (Bayeux Arts, 2020).
She has regularly led creative writing workshops and enjoyed Writer-in-Residency positions with the Quebec Writers Federation, the Writers Guild of Alberta, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, and Sage Hill (Youth Writing Camps in Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, SK). She also works as an editor, manuscript evaluator, longtime book reviewer (for SK Books), and freelancer, and often presents in schools, libraries, and universities. Her "Morning Meditations for Writers" for the Federation of BC Writers have been a popular workshop feature.
Leedahl's most lauded titles are The Bone Talker and Orchestra of the Lost Steps. The Bone Talker earned the 2001 Rocky Mountain Book Award, Alberta; Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year, 2001, Children's Literature, (United States); Saskatchewan Book Award Nominations in the Book of the Year and Children's Literature categories; a Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice, Starred Selection; the Alberta Book Illustration of the Year Award; Alberta Trade Title of the Year Nomination; CLA Children’s Book of the Year Nomination' and Canadian Booksellers Association Illustrator of the Year Award Nomination. Orchestra of the Lost Steps was recognized with three Saskatchewan Book Award Nominations in 2004: Book of the Year, Saskatoon Book Award, Fiction Award, and the Award for Publishing. It was a winner in the John V. Hicks Manuscript Awards.
Other Awards and Nominations: The Moon Watched It All won the Gold Medal in the "Picture Book - All Ages" category, 2019 Moonbeam Awards, Michigan, US. Wretched Beast was shortlisted for the 2012 Relit Award.Talking Down The Northern Lights was shortlisted for the 2001 Saskatchewan Book Awards in the Poetry and Saskatoon Book Award categories, and was a John Hicks Manuscript Competition finalist in 2000. Leedahl has been shortlisted for the CBC Literary Award for Poetry; Arc Magazine's "Poem of the Year," and received numerous Saskatchewan Writers' Guild Literary Awards in three genres.
Leedahl was employed as a radio advertising copywriter for several years. In 2019 she added "lyricist" to her curriculum vitae: she's collaborated on music for the Vancouver/San Francisco-based indie band Maltavar.
She has been the recipient of a number of national and international Fellowships. In 2009 she was a Fellow at Fundacion Valparaiso, in Mojacar, Almeria, Spain. In 2006 she was awarded both the Wallace Stegner Grant for the Arts (Eastend, SK) and a Fellowship to attend the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences in Georgia (US). In 2004 she was a Fellow at the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers (Scotland), and in 2002/2003 she was one of five Canadian writers selected for the Canada-Mexico Writing/Photography Exchange in Mérida (Mexico) and Banff.
Other career highlights include participation in the Labrador Creative Writing Festival and having her children's book, The Bone Talker selected for a White Ravens designation and publication in Braille.
Aside from writing, Leedahl enjoys running; hiking; kayaking; road cycling; pickleball; building community; playing piano, guitar and singing; and travels near and far. In 2024 she walked the Camino Portuguese from Porto to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
In 2023 and onward, I am most interested in presenting from my most recent book, Go (poetry), but I am also open to multi-genre presentations.
I tailor workshops for participants, and/or work one-on-one via email correspondence.
Genres include poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Generally my workshops include a "pep talk," readings of published work (mine and other writers' material) to use as effective examples, writing exercises, and group sharing.
For younger students, I use The Bone Talker and The Moon Watched It All, and often incorporate props and guitar music/singing.
Middle years' students have been enthusiastic about my presentations with my book Riding Planet Earth.
Senior high school students have been receptive to work from my collections of poetry, short stories, essays, and my novel, Tell Me Everything.
