Maureen Hull

Maureen Hull was born and raised on Cape Breton Island. She studied at NSCAD, Dalhousie University and the Pictou Fisheries School. Before and during her formal education she worked in the costume department of Neptune Theatre. Since 1976 she has lived on Pictou Island in the Northumberland Strait. Between 1976 and 1998 she worked as a lobster fisher; for seven of those years she home-schooled her two daughters. She began writing in 1992.

Her fiction and poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, most recently To Find Us: Words and Images of Halifax. Her short story collection, Righteous Living, Turnstone Press, 1999, was short-listed for the Danuta Gleed Award, and several of her stories have been read on CBC radio. Her second picture book, Rainy Days With Bear, 2004, was short-listed for the Ann Connor Brimer and Blue Spruce awards. Her first novel, The View From a Kite was published by Nimbus/Vagrant in September, 2006.

Selected List of Publications

The View From a Kite. Nimbus/Vagrant, September 2006.

"The View From a Kite is a thoroughly engrossing novel. Maureen Hull creates an authentic, full-spirited protagonist who captivates the reader immediately. Here is a difficult tale told unflinchingly by a master storyteller."
     -Lesley Choyce

Rainy Days with Bear. Illustrated by Leanne Franson. Lobster Press, 2004. ISBN 1-894222-85-7 

"Franson's soft watercolour illustrations bring Hull's tale of imagination and patience to life."
     -Carol-Ann Hoyte, Montreal Review of Books.

The Montreal Aunts." Christmas Family Treasures. Kacey Barron, Editor. Hugh Lauter Levin Associiates Inc., 2003. ISBN 0-88363-044-3

"Homarus Americanus." Atlantica: Stories from the Maritimes and Newfoundland. Lesley Choyce, Editor. Goose Lane Editions, 2001. ISBN 0-8692-309-0.
     Click here for WFNS' description of this book.

Wild Cameron Women. Illustrated by Judith Christine Mills. Stoddart Kids, 2000. ISBN 0-77373-219-5.
     Click here for WFNS' description of this book.

"... a book about storytelling - about how family storytelling connects us to the wisdom of our ancestors, and about how storytellers... shape their tales to convey that wisdom to us."
     - "Wild Cameron Women." Perry Nodelman. Quill & Quire, February 2000.

"Maureen Hull's imaginative solution to handling a child's fears is written with humour and spirit."
     - "Wild Cameron Women." Indigo Review, www.indigo.ca

"... [a] fresh imaginative tale that will appeal to readers for many years to come."
     - "We Recommend..." Children's Book News, Spring 2000.

Righteous Living. Turnstone Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8801-232-2.
     Click here for WFNS' description of this book.

"...a gleaming, carefully-polished gem ... Hull's writing is redemptive and, ultimately, purifying."
     - "Righteous Living." Margo Wheaton. Pottersfield Portfolio, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Spring 2000).

"...her writing touches on the nerve that runs through the core of everybody's supposedly ordinary existence. These stories are like our lives - sometimes momentous, sometimes mundane, sometimes startlingly real."
     - "Throwing off trappings: A good catch of stories from an island scribe." Atlantic Books Today, No 26 (Fall 1999).

"Throwing Off Trappings: A Good catch of stories from an island scribe" Atlantic Books Today, No. 26 (Fall 1000)

"Heading North", "Brain". Words Out There: Women Poets in Atlantic Canada. Jeanette Lynes, Editor. Roseway Publications, 1999. ISBN 1-89646-09-1

"Homarus Americanus." Water Studies. Ian Colford. Editor. Pottersfield Press, 1998. ISBN 1-895900-12-3.

"J. Maureen Hull's. . . writing is filled with joyful lyricism."
     - Review of Water Studies. Janet McNaughton. Quill & Quire, March 1998.

You can send mail to Maureen Hull
c/o Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia