“God made me to work with words.”

It’s likely you haven’t heard her name before. But Elma Schemenauer, a Canadian author who is a Christian, has written more than 70 books and edited more than 250 others. And no, she doesn’t use a pseudonym.

Schemenauer has carved out a successful niche in secular publishing. A sample of books she has written: Hello Vancouver, John A. MacDonald, Yesterstories, Salmon, Ethiopia, Native Canadians Today and Long Ago, The Magnetic Way into Early Childhood Basic Language and Math Skills, Jacob Jacobs Gets Up Early, What It Means to Be a Friend. And the list goes on.

As an editor, Schemenauer has helped create an equally impressive array of books, including many textbooks and teachers’ manuals as well as novels and short story anthologies. Books by Richard Wright, Claire Mowat, David Suzuki and other well-known authors appear on her resumé.

Without fanfare, Schemenauer works at least eight hours a day in her home office, putting her own special stamp on the books she writes and edits.

But of course, she didn’t start out this way.

Raised on a farm near Elbow, Saskatchewan, Schemenauer is the daughter of Russian Mennonites who immigrated to Canada in the 1920s as children, along with their parents and siblings. She has one brother, two sisters and a large extended family.

Schemenauer’s family fostered the love for reading and writing that came naturally to her. “My father is a wonderful storyteller, acting out the parts of all the characters including the animals, complete with sound effects,” she says. “My whole family converses mainly by telling stories, as many western Canadians do. That’s an ongoing source of ideas and inspiration for me.”

Two teachers particularly encouraged her: Mrs. Miller, a Sunday school teacher who inspired her with vivid portrayals of stories from the Bible, and Mrs. West, an English teacher who encouraged her to enter writing and speaking contests.

Schemenauer attended Briercrest Bible College and the universities of Saskatchewan and Toronto, becoming a teacher. At heart she knew she wanted to be a writer but she didn’t know how to earn a living from writing.

Her first job was in Hepburn, Saskatchewan, teaching English, social studies and health to Grades 8-12. Next she taught English in a school near Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. During this time she also taught Vacation Bible School in the ranching areas near Miles City, Montana and in Saskatchewan.

But her need to write kept surfacing. “I’d spend hours writing lesson plans,” she recalls. “I enjoyed that more than the actual teaching.”

Finally, she took the plunge; moving to Toronto to pursue her dream.

Her teaching experience led to an editorial and writing position with an educational publisher. In her free time, she also wrote stories. The first one she had published was a picture book, Newton McTootin and the Bang Bang Tree.

Eight years later, Schemenauer decided to go freelance. Her first assignment was writing a series of historical fiction books called Yesterstories, which she loved.

Not all of her assignments have been that exciting, but she has enjoyed them all in one way or another. “I believe God made me to work with words,” she says. “If I don’t have a writing or editing project, I feel restless and unfulfilled.”

Now and then, she writes something for herself. Her self-published book Breadspeed: Wonderful No-Knead Yeast Breads in Two Hours has sold more than 8,000 copies. She explored her family’s far-reaching roots in Jacob Siemens Family Since 1685. She is currently working on a several Christian novels, dealing with topics such as rural-urban conflicts, bereavement and spiritual growth.

The fact that she is virtually unknown in Christian publishing circles doesn’t bother Schemenauer. She has been busy influencing the content of many of the books found in public schools and libraries.

“Christian values are usually acceptable,” she says. “Everyone agrees that books for children should have ‘good’ values such as unselfishness, forgiveness, responsibility. As a Christian writer you can be especially useful in this regard.

“And,” she adds, “sometimes people without a strong belief/value system don’t realize what underlying values are contained in an article or story. As a Christian, you can point that out.”

Asked about including explicit Christian content, she says, “That’s trickier. You can often do quite a bit of it in history writing. For example, there’s no getting around the fact that Montreal was founded as a missionary colony.

“As an author, I put in as much Christian content as is reasonable in the context. The editors usually take some of it out, but the end result is that there’s more than there would have been otherwise.

“As an editor, I also put in as much as I can. People sometimes say, ‘You can’t get away with that.’ But I give it a try anyway. Whatever I put in is tempered by an array of people including the author, reviewers and other editors.”

Schemenauer has been married for 33 years to Bob, better known as Dr. Robert Schemenauer. He is the founder of a charitable organization called FogQuest, which does water projects in developing countries. They live in Toronto. Her Web site for her Jacob Siemens’ book is http://members.tripod.com/~siemenssince1685.

Or, just do an Internet search on her name. It will come up.

N. J. Lindquist is a versatile writer, whose work includes four novels for teens. If you would like to see some Canadian authors’ bookmarks (or enough for your church) contact her at njlindquist@rogers.com or phone toll-free: 1-877-842-8754.

Published in ChristianWeek September 30, 2003 Volumne 17 Number 14