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2021 Atlantic Book Awards shortlists

Shortlists for the 2021 Atlantic Book Awards have been announced! Congratulations to all of the shortlisted authors — and, in particular, to the fourteen authors shortlisted for WFNS’s five Atlantic Book Awards categories. The five shortlists below boast a number of acclaimed WFNS members, including the double-shortlisted shalan joudry. Click on a book cover for more details and to order directly from the publisher.

This year’s online Atlantic Book Festival (May 6 to 12) will culminate in a virtual Awards Gala (May 13), where the winners in each category will be announced.

Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Children’s Literature (YA)

Brimer - Annaka, Fenton
Brimer - Keep This to Yourself, Ryan
Brimer - Grey Sisters, Treggiari

Annaka by Andre Fenton (Nimbus Publishing)

Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan (Albert Whitman & Company)

The Grey Sisters by Jo Treggiari (Penguin Teen)

Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award

Richardson - Blood in the Water, Cameron
Richardson - Acadian Driftwood, LeBlanc
Richardson - Before the Parade, Rose

Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes by Silver Donald Cameron (Viking Canada)

Acadian Driftwood: One Family and the Great Expulsion by Tyler LeBlanc (Goose Lane Editions)

Before the Parade: A History of Halifax’s Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Communities, 1972-1984 by Rebecca Rose (Nimbus Publishing)

J. M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award

Abraham - Black Matters, Cooper
Abraham - Humanimus, Huebert
Abraham - Waking Ground, joudry

Black Matters by Afua Cooper, with photographs by Wilfried Raussert (Roseway Publishing)

Humanimus by David Huebert (Palimpsest Press)

Waking Ground by shalan joudry (Gaspereau Press)

Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award

Tynes - Year of the Metal Rabbit, Armstrong
Tynes - Burden, Burnet Smith
Tynes - Waking Ground, joudry

Year of the Metal Rabbit by Tammy Armstrong (Gaspereau Press)

Burden by Douglas Burnet Smith (University of Regina Press)

Waking Ground by shalan joudry (Gaspereau Press)

Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award

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Raddall - Dirty Birds, Murray
Raddall - Speechless, Simpson

Some People’s Children by Bridget Canning (Breakwater Books Ltd.)

Dirty Birds by Morgan Murray (Breakwater Books Ltd.)

Speechless by Anne Simpson (Freehand Books)

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Simultaneous Submissions

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) administers some programs (and special projects) that involve print and/or digital publication of ‘selected’ or ‘winning’ entries. In most cases, writing submitted to these programs and projects must not be previously published and must not be simultaneously under consideration for publication by another organization. Why? Because our assessment and selection processes depends on all submitted writing being available for first publication. If writing selected for publication by WFNS has already been published or is published by another organization first, copyright issues will likely make it impossible for WFNS to (re-)publish that writing.

When simultaneous submissions to a WFNS program are not permitted, it means the following:

  • You may not submit writing that has been accepted for future publication by another organization.
  • You may not submit writing that is currently being considered for publication by another organization—or for another prize that includes publication.
  • The writing submitted to WFNS may not be submitted for publication to another organization until the WFNS program results are communicated. Results will be communicated directly to you by email and often also through the public announcement of a shortlist or list of winners. Once your writing is no longer being considered for the WFNS program, you are free to submit it elsewhere.
    • If you wish to submit your entry elsewhere before WFNS program results have been announced, you must first contact WFNS to withdraw your entry. Any entry fee cannot be refunded.

Prohibitions on simultaneous submission do not apply to multiple WFNS programs. You are always permitted to submit the same unpublished writing to multiple WFNS programs (and special projects) at the same time, such as the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program, the Emerging Writers Prizes, the Jampolis Cottage Residency Program, the Message on a Bottle contest, the Nova Writes Competition, and any WFNS projects involving one-time or recurring special publications.

Recommended Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) recommends that participants in any given workshop have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with information, strategies, and skills that suit their career stage. The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the following definitions used by WFNS.

  • 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, and writing for children and young adults) 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.

For “intensive” and “masterclass” creative writing 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 you’re uncertain of your experience level with regard to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca