Heather Smith Meloche: College Instructor, Author, Poet

About ME

Education

ESL Publications and Presentations

Teaching Experience

M.F.A. Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing, Emerson College 2025-Present

M.F.A. TESL/TEFL, Bowling Green State University 1998

B. A. English, Michigan State University 1994

B. A. Telecommunication, Michigan State University 1994

Additional courses related to the teaching of English, Indiana University/Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fall 1995

Teaching Experience

ESL Publications and Presentations

Teaching Experience

Oakland Community College (OCC) ESL Adjunct/Tutor September 1998 to Present

Auburn Hills/Royal Oak/Southfield, Michigan

English Language Institute (ELI), September 1998 to April 2001,

Wayne State University (WSU) ESL Adjunct May 2005 to August 2006

Detroit, Michigan

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) ESL Instructor January 1997 to May 1998

Bowling Green, Ohio

View my experience

ESL Publications and Presentations

“Chapbooks.com,” MITESOL Messages August 2001

“Publishing a Newsletter: The Trials, Tribulations, and Ultimate Rewards of an ESL Newsletter Class,” MITESOL Messages February 2001

“Silent Language in the ESL Classroom: A Call for the Study and Teaching of Gestures,” Ohio TESOL Conference Fall 1998

creative work and awards

Fiction and nonfiction

“The Weight of Snow”

Lunch Ticket, 2025

“Their Last Fight”

Short story in Dead Girls Walking, an anthology by Wicked Shadow Press 2024

Ripple

Debut YA novel published by Penguin Putnam, 2016

“A Personal Essay on Addiction”

Hypable online, 2016

"Crosswire Bend"

Short story in verse in Young Adult Reader's Network (YARN) online journal, 2014

"Worm Charming"

Nonfiction in Spider magazine, 2012

"Him"

Short Story in Verse in Hunger Mountain, 2011

"Letter Fantasies and Mailman Dreams"

Article in Once Upon a Time, 2007

"Mrs. McRitter's Cricket"

Short Story in Spider magazine, 2004

poetry

Fiction and nonfiction

"The Writing Life" and "Concurrence"

Sterling Script 2025, 2025

"Swords at 202(four)'s End"

Teacakes and Tarot: An Anthology by Spell Jar Press, 2025

"How I Recall It"

Poetry by Chance: An Anthology of Poems Powered by Metaphor Dice

Edited by Taylor Mali, 2023

"Admission of Guilt and Hope"

Poetry X Hunger, 2021

"Telling"

Open Minds Quarterly, 2018

"Fishing"

The Red Cedar Review, Volume 30, Number 1, 1994

honors and awards

Fiction and nonfiction

honors and awards

Sentenced

1st place in Institute of Children’s Literature

2024 YA Fantasy First Pages Contest, 2024

The Balance of Bones Against Dirt

Shortlisted for the 2023 Sheila-Na-Gig Chapbook Contest, 2024

"Telling"

Honorable Mention in Open Minds Quarterly

15th Annual Brainstorm Poetry Contest, 2018

“Crosswire Bend”

Nominated for Pushcart Prize by Young Adult Reader's Network online journal, 2014

“The Emperor’s New Crows”

1st Place in the Children's/YA Division

Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition, 2011

“Him”

1st Place in the 2011 Hunger Mountain Katherine Paterson Prize, 2011

“The Fog Bell”

5th Place in the Children's/YA Division

Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition, 2007

professional memberships and service

Professional memberships

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
Greater Detroit Romance Writers
TESOL International

professional service

Submission Reader Page Turner Magazine, 2025-Present
- Judged submissions to determine appropriate inclusion in magazine issues
- Coordinated with magazine staff to help produce strong, readable issues
Presenter, Chelsea Writer’s Workshop, 2025
Presenter, Get Inked Teen Writing Conference, 2025
Writing Judge, Ann Arbor District Library’s Teen Writing Festival, 2019
Pitch Wars Mentor, Pitch Wars (online program started by Brenda Drake), 2017
Barnes & Noble Authorpalooza Young Writer’s Contest judge, 2017