Chyana Marie Sage is a Cree and Métis memoirist, journalist, essayist, poet, screenwriter, model, public speaker, and digital storyteller from amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). Her debut memoir, Soft as Bones (House of Anansi Press), became an instant national bestseller and achieved Globe and Mail bestseller status. Its initial print run of 8,000 copies sold out in under six months, and the book was named one of CBC Books’ Best Canadian Books of the Year and received the Foreword INDIES Gold Award for Memoir. She is also currently ghostwriting the forthcoming memoir of Indigenous author, wellness advocate, and entrepreneur Shayla Stonechild.
Chyana’s literary work has been recognized nationally and internationally. Her essay “Soar” won first place in the Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest before earning a Silver Medal at the National Magazine Awards. Her writing has appeared in HuffPost, The New Quarterly, Electric Literature, The Toronto Star, Matriarch Movement, and other publications. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia University, where she became the first Indigenous graduate of the program, and later returned as an adjunct professor of creative writing.
An accomplished keynote speaker, Chyana has built a national and international speaking platform, appearing at Columbia University, Joe’s Pub in New York City, literary festivals across Canada and the United States, the COP15 Biodiversity Conference, wellness conferences, universities, and Indspire’s Soaring Indigenous Youth Empowerment Gathering and A Feast in the Forest, among many others. She is represented for speaking engagements by Authors Unbound and Talent Bureau and is frequently invited back by organizations she has worked with.
After several years living in New York City, Chyana returned home to Canada and now serves as Digital Media Lead at Indspire, Canada’s largest Indigenous-led charity supporting the education of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students. In this role, she uses digital storytelling to celebrate Indigenous excellence, amplify community voices, and inspire the next generation through national campaigns, interviews, and digital media. She has also collaborated with NDN Girls Book Club on literary events, including the launch of Soft as Bones, and was named one of ELLE Canada’s eight women making their mark, recognized as “The Fearless Leader.”
In 2026, Chyana expanded her public profile to national television, competing alongside her sister, Chayla Rain, on Season 12 of The Amazing Race Canada, one of Canada’s most-watched television series. The series introduced her story and work to a major mainstream audience and further expanded the reach of her Indigenous storytelling platform.
Beyond writing and television, Chyana is a model and advocate for Indigenous representation in fashion, having worked with designers including Lesley Hampton, Jamie Okuma, Lindsay King, Dene Couture by Tishna Marlowe, and Ocean Kiana. Her creative work increasingly spans literature, film, television, digital media, and fashion.
Soft as Bones has also continued to generate interest across mediums. Indigenous director Eva Thomas is mentoring Chyana as she adapts the memoir into a feature screenplay and has expressed interest in co-directing the eventual film with her, signaling the story’s continued momentum and potential beyond the page.
Whether writing books, standing on a keynote stage, creating digital stories, or mentoring emerging writers, Chyana’s work is rooted in the belief of Métis leader Louis Riel that it would be the artists who give us our spirits back.
“I am writing to recommend Chyana Marie Sage as a speaker without reservation. As Chief Operating Officer of Indspire, the largest Indigenous-led education charity in Canada, I have watched Chyana do something rare. She takes stories that live in the hardest places of our shared history and delivers them in a way that leaves audiences changed rather than wounded.
