Hi, I'm Shayna!
Shayna Douglas is a Canadian author born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. Most of her personality can be traced back to fictional characters she idolized as a child and honestly, not much has changed. Her love for writing stems from discovering fanfiction at a young age and a childhood-long habit of chasing the validation of her English teachers.
She holds a degree in Second-Language Teaching and French, as well as a Master’s in Bilingualism Studies from the University of Ottawa, and works as an ESL instructor. Her academic and professional life has always revolved around languages, but fiction remains her first love.
When she’s not writing, she’s likely carrying a book around (just in case), sipping an iced strawberry matcha on the way to Pilates, overanalyzing her birth chart, or taking long drives just to listen to music and stare dramatically out the window.
Shayna's Story
Shayna Douglas started writing stories about her favourite fictional characters falling in love as a teenager and never really stopped. More Than All the Miles Combined was born from her desire to write a sapphic love story that not only felt real, but one in which she could see herself. She wanted to capture what sapphic love in your twenties truly looks like: the uncertainty, the longing, and the way friendship and love blur together.
In many ways, this book is a love letter to her own past. Growing up, one of her favourite childhood memories was a family road trip from Ontario to Newfoundland—the journey becoming just as much a part of her as the places themselves. Writing this novel allowed her to weave that nostalgia into a love story while making sense of her own experiences with coming out and growing up. As a 26-year-old Canadian lesbian, she spent years searching for stories where she could see herself. In the end, she wrote the book her younger self had been looking for.
Shayna's Writing History
Writing fanfiction has been a huge part of Shayna's journey as a writer. Under the pen name embersofapril, Archive of Our Own has been her space to perfect the agony of a good slow burn, write characters who refuse to admit they’re in love, and balance plot with just the right amount of smut. Her work has resonated with thousands of readers, with The Stars Above Us amassing over 304,000 hits and Reputation reaching over 228,000.
It is also through fanfiction that Shayna grew her social media following. Her BookTok account @shaynaslibrary currently has 35.6k followers & her bookstagram account has 13k. She has begun posting about her novel writing process on both of these accounts.
Contact
Shayna is represented by Maddy Belton at the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency.