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Equity & Outreach

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) is committed to better serving writers from equity-deserving communities and writers living outside of urban Halifax by reviewing, revising, and expanding our programs, our outreach practices, and our organizational governance.

In particular, WFNS has been striving to reduce barriers to participation for Mi’kmaw and other Indigenous writers, Black and African Nova Scotian writers, 2SLGBTQIA+ writers, and writers living with disabilities. We acknowledge that there are many other equity-deserving communities in Nova Scotia, and we are building the administrative capacity to expand our efforts.

WFNS also recognizes that regional representation is integral to inclusive and equitable programming. Beginning in 2024, we launched new initiatives to bring in-person events and virtual opportunities to regions across Nova Scotia.

Are you an equity-deserving writer? A writer living outside of urban Halifax? An arts, culture, or community organization that shares opportunities with these writers?

Subscribe for direct email notifications when relevant programming & events are announced. WFNS General Membership is not required, and you may unsubscribe by replying to any notification email.

Additional questions will appear after you select one or both of the above options.

In addition to occasional events and programming, WFNS offers the following annual programming for writers from equity-deserving communities.

Emerging Writers Prizes: WFNS administers three annual prizes for emerging and early-career writers, each of which recognizes barriers to literary creation and supports writers as they advance book-length works-in-progress.

Jampolis Cottage Residency Program: WFNS manages a historic building in Annapolis Valley as a writers’ residency, and we’re committed to expanding its accessibility to writers of all backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and financial circumstances.

WFNS recognizes that financial accessibility is the foundation of equitable programming. If WFNS membership dues or program fees (e.g., application, submission, and entry fees) pose a barrier to your participation, please reach out.

To request a partial or full waiver of any WFNS dues or fees, you may email contact@writers.ns.ca. From that address, we may direct your request to the appropriate staff member, but all waiver requests are treated confidentially. We do not ask for supporting details or documentation.

WFNS’s standing committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDIA) was created in 2024.

Populated by Board members, Writers’ Council members, and General members, the EDIA Committee oversees the improvement of programming and of communication and outreach practices to create more equitable opportunities for member and public participation and to eliminate barriers to participation created by discrimination and bias on the basis of (dis)ability, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

To express interest in joining this committee (which is populated after WFNS’s Annual General Meeting each June) or to request this committee’s terms of reference, please contact WFNS’s Executive Director (director@writers.ns.ca).

The board and staff of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia stand in solidarity with all people seeking justice in the face of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism, police brutality, and white supremacy.

As an organization, we are listening to Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities, who continue to remind us that the crucial and difficult work of both confronting and overcoming racism and injustice is ongoing and requires active engagement.

We grieve every life taken by white supremacy, racism, and police and community violence. We acknowledge that systemic and institutional racism continues to be responsible for the subjugation of Indigenous people, including those in Mi’kma’ki, the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. Systemic and institutional racism has also been responsible for the oppression and destruction of Black communities such as Africville. We acknowledge the writers in these communities whose artistic works and contributions to anti-oppressive practices continue to lay the ground for work to come.

We understand that literature has long been privileged as the art form of ideology. It is partly through the pen and the press that racist and oppressive ideologies have been systematized, aggressively promoted, normalized, and subtly reinforced. We support literature as a tool for challenging and decentering such ideologies and for organizing communities around better ideals and actions.

We support those who speak out and engage in action to bring an end to systemic racism and white supremacy. The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia has an active role to play in this critical process of creating a more equitable future. To this end, we have outlined some strategies for our organization to undertake now and in the near future.

Right now, we will

  • build and strengthen current relationships with Black and Indigenous writers and organizations (such as the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute)
  • amplify the voices of BIPOC authors on our website, through our social media, and in our newsletters
  • continue to recruit writers from diverse communities to join our board of directors, to contribute to our award and program adjudication, and to lead our creative writing workshops and professional development sessions

Moving forward, we will

  • coordinate anti-oppression training opportunities for our staff and board members
  • review and update our policies and protocols to ensure they embody anti-oppressive and anti-racist practices within our organization
  • revise and finalize an inclusion statement for all WFNS programming
  • treat this statement as a working document to be developed and adapted for permanent inclusion on our website (alongside our publicly available mandate, mission statement, and core values) so that we might be held accountable in our commitment to learning more, doing more, and remaining transparent about our actions
The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia is committed to being a catalyst for positive change in Nova Scotia’s arts community and the province as a whole, all the while acknowledging we have much to do in that regard. We will listen and we will learn. We will continue to work to amplify and celebrate marginalized voices.

Last updated: July 16, 2020

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Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) uses the following terms to describe writers’ experience levels:

  • New writers: those with less than two years’ creative writing experience and/or no short-form publications (e.g., short stories, personal essays, or poems in literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks).
  • Emerging writers: those with more than two years’ creative writing experience and/or numerous short-form publications.
  • Early-career authors: those with 1 or 2 book-length publications or the equivalent in book-length and short-form publications.
  • Established authors: those with 3 or 4 book-length publications.
  • Professional authors: those with 5 or more book-length publications.

Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children, writing for young adults, and others) provides you with a unique set of experiences and skills, so you might consider yourself an ‘established author’ in one form but a ‘new writer’ in another.

Occasionally, WFNS uses the phrase “emerging and established writers/authors” to mean ‘writers and authors of all experience levels.’

The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the above definitions. A workshop’s participants should usually have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with info, strategies, and skills that suit their experience. 

For “intensive” and “masterclass” workshops, which provide more opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback, the recommended experience level should be followed closely.

For all other workshops, the recommended experience level is just that—a recommendation—and we encourage potential participants to follow their own judgment when registering.

If uncertain about your experience level with respect to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca