Melanie Wood’s work pursues themes that are both universal and deeply personal – from School of Secrets, about girls who were instructed to keep silent about their sexual relationship with a teacher, to Liberia ’77, about brothers returning to the war-ravaged land of their childhood. Melanie’s deep understanding of the complexity of human relationships is undoubtedly informed by the geometry of her own family. She’s the eldest of seven, from several different marriages. Melanie related immediately to Shane Koyczan’s search for family since her parents split when she was four and she didn’t see her mother again until she was a teenager.

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