Melanie Florence is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

author of

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

and Scottish heritage.

Writings

Florence lives in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, but several of her books are informed by the experiences of her grandfather, who attended one of Canada's infamous residential schools. She writes both fiction and non-fiction for

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

and

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

audiences. Her books are about historical and contemporary issues affecting indigenous people. In 2016, Florence was awarded the

TD Canadian Children's Literature Award The TD Canadian Children's Literature Award is an annual Canadian literary award, presented to the year's best work of children's literature. Sponsored by TD Bank Financial Group and the Canadian Children's Book Centre, the award carries a monetar ...

for her

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

, ''Missing Nimâmâ''. The book tells the story of a young, indigenous mother, a missing woman, watching from afar as her daughter grows up. The prize is one of the largest in Canadian children's literature.

Works

*''

Jordin Tootoo Jordin John Kudluk Tootoo (; born February 2, 1983) is a Canadian former professional hockey player, who played for the Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks. Of Inuit, Ukrainian and English descent, h ...

: The Highs and Lows in the Journey of the First Inuit to Play in the NHL'' (Lorimer, 2011, ) *''Righting Canada's Wrongs: Residential Schools'' (Lorimer, 2015, ) *''Missing Nimâmâ'' (illustrated by Francois Thisdale, Clockwise, 2015, ) *''One Night'' (Lorimer, 2016, ) *''The Missing'' (Lorimer, 2016, ) *''Rez Runaway'' (Lorimer, 2016, ) *''He Who Dreams'' (Orca, 2017, ) *''Stolen Words'' (illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard, Second Story, 2017, )

Awards

*2012:

American Indian Youth Literature Award The ''American Indian Library Association American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United ...

(for ''Jordin Tootoo'') *2015: Second Story Press's Aboriginal Writing Contest (for ''Stolen Words'') *2016:

(for ''Missing Nimâmâ'') *2017: Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award (for ''Missing Nimâmâ'') *2018: Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award (for ''Stolen Words'')

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Florence, Melanie Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian children's writers Canadian women children's writers Canadian people of Cree descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Writers from Toronto 21st-century First Nations writers First Nations women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Living people