“My way with words was noticed right from the beginning, when my grade five teacher referred to me as her “little Judy Blume”. While my work has received many accolades since, I still consider there to be no higher praise than this.”

From Vancouver to London to Paris, Melinda has worked as a playwright, essayist, and songwriter. In Canada her short play The Interview was featured in the Walking Fish Festival, and she later premiered her one-woman show, Jew! (A Musical), at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Upon moving to the UK, Jew! (A Musical) made its London premiere at Lost Theatre’s One Act Festival. Once established in Paris, Melinda debuted her three-person play All That Matters (A Modern Mini-Musical about Motherhood) for Montmartre Dionysia.

In addition to creating her own comedy material, Melinda’s writing has appeared in a variety of books and online magazines. She contributed a number of pieces to the cult favourite Teen Angst Poetry collection, and her essay Papa Noel Meets the Recalcitrant Jew featured in the book Mom for the Holidays. For three years, Melinda’s popular Meshugeneh Mama column was a highlight of Message magazine, published quarterly for parents in the Paris region. Other writing includes work for the Being Abroad sketchbook project, serving as a regular contributor to a members-only intimacy blog, and a number of essays (The Cranky Parent: Maman, Bébé and Unsolicited Advice; Love and Latkes) for the well-known online magazine France Revisited.

Melinda’s flash fiction piece Something Big was long listed for Bath Flash Fiction Award and appears in the 2022 anthology Dandelion Years. Other publications include Connexions (published by the Paris-based Le Phare Collectif), online lit mag Syncopation Literary Journal, and her latest flash fiction piece will be featured in an upcoming issue of Sunlight Press.