Equity & Outreach
The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) is committed to better serving writers living outside of urban Halifax and equity-deserving writers by reviewing, revising, and expanding our programs, our outreach practices, and our organizational governance.
In particular, WFNS has been striving to reduce and remove 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 programming. Beginning in 2024, we’re launching new initiatives to bring in-person events and virtual opportunities to regions across Nova Scotia.
Are you a Nova Scotian writer living outside of urban Halifax—or an arts organization based outside of Halifax Regional Municipality?
You can subscribe for personal email notifications when relevant events are scheduled for your area. WFNS Membership is not required, and you may unsubscribe by replying to any notification email.
Are you an equity-deserving writer—or an organization that works with equity-deserving writers in Nova Scotia?
You can subscribe for personal email notifications when relevant programming opportunities open for application or registration. WFNS Membership is not required, and you may unsubscribe by replying to any notification email.
In addition to offering waivers on membership dues, application fees, and submission fees, WFNS offers the following annual programming for equity-deserving writers.
Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program: WFNS reserves at least two literary mentorships each year for writers from equity-deserving communities, including but not limited to writers who have faced marginalization on the basis of disability, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality.
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:
- The Charles R. Saunders Prize encourages literary creation in speculative fiction and in nonfiction by emerging writers of marginalized backgrounds.
- The Elizabeth Venart Prize recognizes the unique barriers to literary creation faced by women and other marginalized genders.
- The Senator Don Oliver Black Voices Prize recognizes the barriers to literary creation and recognition faced by Black and African Nova Scotian writers.
Jampolis Cottage Residency Program: WFNS is committed to growing Jampolis Cottage into a literary residency program that is accessible to writers of all backgrounds, experiences, and abilities. Renovations undertaken in 2023 and 2024 and planned for 2025 aim to remove all barriers for wheelchair users by the end of 2025. We outline (and invite feedback on) our accessibility efforts on the program page.
- The Atlantic Indigenous Writer’s Residency is a four-week solo residency at Jampolis Cottage that is reserved for an Indigenous writer living in Atlantic Canada.
- The Delmore “Buddy” Daye Residency is a four-week solo residency at Jampolis Cottage that is reserved for a Black and/or African Nova Scotian writer.
- The Oliver-Craig Black Writers Retreat is a two-week group residency at Jampolis Cottage that is reserved for Black and/or African Nova Scotian writers.
In February, 2024, WFNS’s Board of Directors approved the creation of a standing committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDIA).
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.
The EDIA Committee also works with the standing Strategy & Policies Committee to ensure WFNS policies are equitable.
To express interest in joining this committee (populated after the WFNS Annual General Meeting each June) or to request its full 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
Last updated: July 16, 2020
