About Mel

MELANIE J. FISHBANE is a PhD candidate at Western University and holds an M.F.A. from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and an M.A. from Concordia University. She teaches children’s literature at George Brown College. She writes on gender, romance, and Jewish girlhood in children’s and young adult literature. Her most recent articles are, “‘More Like Americans’: Sydney Taylor’s Queering of Historical Fiction Girls’ Series” in Beyond Nancy Drew: U.S. Girls’ Series Fiction in the Twentieth Century and an essay co-written with Dr. Caroline Jones, “Discovering Grace: Research Challenges in Finding the Lost Ingalls Sister.” Her work is published in L.M. Montgomery’s Rainbow Valleys: The Ontario Years 1911–1942 and Reconsidering Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House and Beyond. Her essay, “Two Annes, Many Annes: A Writer’s Reflection on Reading Anne of Green Gables and The Diary of a Young Girl,” was published in the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies and is included in the print edition of L.M. Montgomery and Reading. Her YA novel, Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery, was shortlisted for the Vine Awards for the best in Canadian Jewish Literature. Melanie lives in Toronto with her partner and their furbabies, Merlin Cat and Angel Dog.