About me
Onyx Shelton comes from a family of mixed Canadians and Ojibway. His Anishinaabe family hails from Kaakiiskakamigaag (Little Saskatchewan First Nation, Treaty 2 Territory). He was born in Wînipêk, Manitobah (Treaty 1 Territory) and has lived in many places since. His literary taste and writing focus come from a childhood steeped in monster media, and from the lived experience of being a mixed ’nish kid growing up on the borderlands of racial identity in Kanata (Canada).He is a cultural events and program coordinator with the University of Calgary’s Student Experience Services network. His work is based in the Writing Symbols Lodge, the student-facing Indigenous hub on campus. There, he collaborates with internal and external partners to bring Elders, Knowledge Keepers, students, staff, and community members into meaningful relationship with the academic world.Onyx is an alumnus of the Audible Canada Indigenous Writers Circle, a co-founding member of the Alberta Indigenous Writers Collective, and a member of the Alberta Writers Guild and the Indigenous Editors Association. He has also participated in the University of Calgary’s Distinguished Writers Program. His literary mentors include Waubgeshig Rice, Aritha Van Herk, Richard Van Camp, Kaitlyn Purcell, Joshua Whitehead, Francine Cunningham, Teresa Wong, Kealan Patrick Burke, Lareina Abbot, and his mother, who first encouraged him to become a dedicated storyteller. His work includes published short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, screenplays, comics, and novelettes. Onyx continues exploring Indigenous futurities, horror, and care through community-centered storytelling practices.
