Shoulder up portrait shot, Sam is a white man with short dirty blonde hair, wearing a blue oxford shirt with the top button undone. He is in front of a wall of flowers, his face is partially shaded and he looks almost at the camera with a slight smirk. Photo credit: Cliff Haman.

Sam Shelstad

Sam Shelstad is the author of the story collection Cop House (Nightwood Editions, 2017) and the novel Citizens of Light. He is a regular contributor to McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and his work has appeared in magazines including The New Quarterly and Joyland. He was longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize, a runner up for the Thomas Morton Memorial Prize, and finalist for a National Magazine Award. Shelstad lives in Toronto.

Titles by this author

Cover image for The Cobra and the Key: A Novel by Sam Shelstad. The background is a burnt orange and there is a black and white cut out image of a man in a suit, he is standing in profile to the camera and is slightly turned away holding a sepia-toned wooden box over his head, which is not visible. He is emerging from a matching box, standing in it up to his shins. The title is printed in a bold, white, all caps, sans serif font reading “The Cobra and the Key” and is pasted around the man with the boxes, “The Cobra” is over the top box, “and” is below and to the left of the man, and “the Key” is further below and to the right. The words, “A Novel” is below the man with the boxes and is printed in a thin, white, letter case, sans serif font. At the bottom of the page the authors name “Sam Shelstad” is printed in a bold, white, all caps, sans serif font. Book cover is by David Drummond of Salamander Hill Design.
The Cobra and the Key
Sam Shelstad
Citizens of Light
Sam Shelstad