Oriana Duinker, Executive Director
Oriana Duinker (she/her) is an arts & culture administrator who holds a Bachelor of Arts with combined honours in History and Music (Dalhousie/University of King’s College), a Masters in Medieval Studies (U of T), and a Masters in Museum Studies (U of T). Oriana’s professional experience spans several cultural fields, all contributing to her deep understanding of, and appreciation for, the role that arts and culture play in enriching public life. She has worked in collections management, in public-facing museum roles, in program and event management at arts organizations, and most recently, in the Atlantic literary sector as the Executive Director of the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award. In Oriana’s spare time, she serves as the Treasurer of the Board for the Chebucto Orchestral Society (in which she also plays the French horn), loves to explore Halifax by bicycle, and delights in reading with her two young children.
Andy Verboom, Program Manager (Membership Services)
Andy Verboom’s (his) literary studies at Dalhousie, U of Alberta, and Western U included specializations in contemporary poetry, postcolonial & feminist literatures, and critical theory. His communications experiences have included STEM & EAL instruction, web design, academic & literary editing, and print & digital publishing. He joined WFNS in 2019 to shepherd the organization through its extensive brand and website redesign process. He delights in a spreadsheet.
Linda Hudson, Program Manager (Arts Education)
Linda Hudson (she/her) earned an Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from Mount Saint Vincent University, a Masters of Arts from Acadia University, and a Masters in Library and Information Studies. She has been employed at several institutions, providing her with diverse experience that helps guide her work for the WFNS. She has been a graduate Research Assistant at Acadia, completed her MLIS practicum at the Halifax Public Library, and was an intern at the Dalhousie Centre for Learning and Teaching. Linda has also assisted in the coordination of a number of events over the years (such as the annual CLT conference) and provided literacy training.
Dea Toivonen, Outreach & Social Coordinator
Dea Toivonen (they/them) holds an Honours Degree in Contemporary Studies and Creative Writing (University of King’s College) and is a creative writer and artist living in Kjipuktuk. They work as a writing tutor and teaching assistant and are especially interested in the experiences and successes of emerging and early-career writers. They are committed to building literary and arts community on anti-oppressive frameworks and to creating spaces that support the literary voices of marginalized and underrepresented writers. They joined WFNS in 2024 as the first Outreach & Social Coordinator, and they are excited to help expand WFNS’s capacities; to build bridges with communities, individuals, and organizations throughout Nova Scotia; and to develop programs that serve writers of all backgrounds and experiences. They are eager to hear what members are looking for in a local literary community, so please send them your suggestions and feedback!
Terry Pulliam, Residency Attendant (Jampolis Cottage)
Terry Pulliam (he/him), formerly of SoundMarket Recording Studio, lives nearby Jampolis Cottage in Hantsport. He is happy to be working to support writers through the Jampolis Cottage Residency Program.
Joanne Gallant, President
• Chair of Recruitment & Nominating Committee
Joanne Gallant is a registered nurse and writer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2020, she was selected as an apprentice writer in WFNS’s Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program. Her first book—A Womb in the Shape of a Heart—was published in 2021 and it won the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award for Non-Fiction. She’s had personal essays published in Oh Reader magazine, Mutha Magazine, and other online publications. She is former chair of the Fund Development Committee and helped organize both the Writing Rumble and Nova Swoons fundraisers. She has led two memoir-writing workshops and a MacPhee Summer Camp for Writing through WFNS and has been a Nova Writes reviewer and peer assessor and a CBC Non-Fiction Prize reader. She is active in the writing community, attending festivals such as AfterWords, workshops offered through WFNS, and a self-directed writing residency at Jampolis Cottage in 2024.
Whitney Moran, Vice President
• Chair of Fund Development Committee
Whitney Moran is the managing editor of Nimbus Publishing and has worked in the Atlantic Canadian publishing industry for over twelve years. She has facilitated a number of workshops for the WFNS during that time and has been so grateful to serve the board for since 202, first as a Director-at-Large and Chair of the Fund Development Committee (leading the planning for the successful 2022 Writing Rumble, which raised nearly $7,000 for the Jampolis sponsored residencies) and more recently as Vice President, a still-active member of the Fund Development Committee, and a Writers In The Schools (WITS) participant. The author of two books, East Coast Crafted (co-written by Christopher Reynolds) and I Want to Build a Seahouse (illustrated by Josee Bisaillon), Whitney brings a wealth of experience with writers, event planning, and fundraising to her role on the WFNS Board of Directors, as well as an infectious passion for the distinct literary arts of this region.
Carol Shillibeer, Treasurer
• Chair of Finance Committee
Carol is an artist and poet and has worked as support, administration, and staff in the non-profit sector for decades, bringing with her a long history of work with artist-run nonprofits. As a retired academic, she blends her long-established interests in art and anthropology with investigations into what it means to be a writer in the contemporary world. She has published more than 200 poems in a variety of literary journals under a variety of heteronyms and published a chapbook in 2023 with Dancing Girl Press.
Becca Babcock, Secretary
• Chair of Strategy & Policies Committee
Becca Babcock is a writer and a writing instructor, having published three books of fiction (Some There Are Fearless, 2023; One Who Has Been Here Before, 2021; and Every Second Weekend, 2011) as well as several short stories in literary journals in Canada and abroad. Becca teaches Creative Writing courses at Dalhousie University. Previously, she served on the Board of Directors and Audience Engagement Committee for Eastern Front Theatre (2016 – 2019) and the Edmonton International Women’s Day Planning Committee (2003 – 2005), as well as several university and national student organization boards and committees, and other organizations in volunteer roles.
Philip Moscovitch, Past-President
Philip Moscovitch has published non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and comics. A long-time contributor to The Halifax Examiner and Saltscapes, he has been a finalist at the National Magazine Awards and the Atlantic Journalism Awards. Philip is the author of the book Adventures in Bubbles and Brine and the editor of Write, the magazine of the Writers’ Union of Canada. He has served several terms on the WFNS Board and was previously Board Chair for Halifax Public Libraries.
Sonja Boon
• Chair of Programs Committee
Sonja Boon is a mixed-race writer, researcher, flutist, and teacher. She’s a relatively new transplant to Nova Scotia, having formally moved to Halifax with her family in the summer of 2023. Since her arrival in NS, she’s been involved with WFNS in numerous capacities. A member of the Writers’ Council, she has served as a volunteer, instructor, and book award jury member. She currently serves on the Board of Riddle Fence literary magazine (St. John’s, NL) and is co-editor of the Life Writing series at Wilfrid Laurier University Press. She has previously served as Vice-President with WritersNL. In that position, she also chaired the Literary Awards committee. Finally, she’s served on a number of book award juries in different Canadian provinces, an honour that is both overwhelming and humbling. In her previous lives, she was a professional classical musician and a professor of gender studies, and both of these continue to influence her life and creative practice. Before moving to Halifax, Sonja and her family lived in St. John’s for 15 years and Vancouver for 11 before that! As an immigrant who arrived in Canada as a child, Sonja has lived in 7 provinces and on 3 continents.
Habiba Diallo
Habiba Diallo is the author of #BlackInSchool. She is the inaugural winner of the Senator Don Oliver Black Voices Prize and was a finalist in the 2020 Bristol Short Story Prize. She was also one of six finalists in the 2018 London Book Fair Pitch Competition. She is a women’s health advocate, passionate about bringing an end to a maternal health condition called obstetric fistula.
Lindsey Harrington
• Chair of Ad-hoc 50th Anniversary Committee
Lindsey Harrington is a Nova Scotian writer with Newfoundland roots. She has longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Award, shortlisted for the Fiddlehead Creative Nonfiction Award, and won the Rita Joe Poetry Prize. Her current projects include a short story collection about breakups and a memoir about being childfree, both of which are in the querying process. She’s very involved in the local literary community, co-hosting a monthly writers’ open mic, occasional typewriter meetups, and random literary events, such as Poets on Ice, for which she froze local poems in blocks of ice for display at Dartmouth Ice Fest. In her day job, she works as a Strategic Initiatives Lead with Conciliation and Mediation Services, facilitating their training and outreach programming. Prior to this position, she worked with government and in the not-for-profit sector in St. John’s. She has an MBA and a teaching certificate.
Renée Hartleib
• Chair of Personnel Committee
Renée Hartleib is a writer and writing mentor based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has authored two books: Writing Your Way: A 40-Day Path of Self-Discovery (2022) and Solo Camino: An Empowering Guide for Women (forthcoming, 2025). A graduate of the Humber School of Writers, her short stories have been published in anthologies and literary journals across Canada. She has also worked as a professional writer and editor with a long list of clients. As a writing mentor, Renée considers it an honour to work one-on-one with writers who are completing book drafts or who require a sensitive and thorough review of completed manuscripts. Renée understands and appreciates the important work of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, having been one of the first apprentices in the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program and also having served on the WFNS Board of Directors in the past.
Cory Lavender
Cory Lavender is a poet of African Nova Scotian and European descent living in the Kespukwitk district of Mi’kma’ki (Southwest Nova Scotia). His work has appeared in journals such as Grain, Prairie Fire, Riddle Fence, and The Fiddlehead and in Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Press, 2020). A full-length collection of poems, Come One Thing Another, is forthcoming from Gaspereau Press in 2024. He has an Honours BA from Mount Saint Vincent University and an MA in English and Cultural Studies from McMaster, in addition to a few years in a PhD program in Guelph. While in Guelph, he gained skills working as a teaching assistant, writing tutor, and academic copyeditor. After freelancing for over a decade as a tutor, editor, and ghostwriter, he is now focusing more on facilitating equity, diversity, and inclusion workshops.
Tiffany Morris
• Chair of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDIA) Committee
Tiffany Morris is a Mi’kmaw/settler writer from Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Nova Scotia. Focusing mainly on speculative fiction and poetry, her work has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, and Apex Magazine, among others. She has a Master of Arts in English from Acadia University, with a focus on Indigenous speculative literatures and Indigenous Futurisms. She has edited for Apparition Lit Magazine and Eye to the Telescope and is a member of the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and the Horrors Writers Association. Her debut poetry collection, Elegies of Rotting Stars, is forthcoming from Nictitating Books in 2022.
Danica Roache
• Chair of Membership Committee
Danica Roache is a mixed ancestry Mi’kmaw mother-of-four living in Kjipuktuk. Danica holds a BA with combined honors in English and Creative Writing from Dalhousie University. She was commissioned by WFNS to write an essay for Rita Joe Heritage Day events in 2023. A graduate of the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program (with mentor Stephanie Domet), Danica is working on her first novel.
Steve Vernon
Steve Vernon has been a member of WFNS for several decades. He’s a member of the Writers’ Council, has served as an active WITS participant, and is a skilled oral tradition storyteller. He’s written and sold fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for more than forty years and has also written content independently. Steve has nine books published by Nimbus Publishing.
