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2026 Atlantic & Nova Scotia Book Awards finalists

The finalists for the 2026 Atlantic Book Awards and 2026 Nova Scotia Book Awards were jointly announced on March 30 at the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (Halifax).

Congratulations to the eighteen finalists for WFNS’s four 2026 Book Awards!

Extra congrats to Danica Roache, whose Five Seasons of Charlie Francis (Vagrant Press) is a finalist not only for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award but also for two Nova Scotia Book Awards: the Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction) and the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (Fiction)!

Click the finalist authors’ book covers for more details.

J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award​

Leigh Faulkner
Yes is the Only Word the Earth Understands
(Owl’s Head Press)

Sue Goyette
Future Howl
(Gaspereau Press)

Natalie Rice
Nightjar
(Gaspereau Press)

Rebecca Salazar
antibody
(McLelland & Stewart)

Christine Wu
Familial Hungers
(Brick Books)

Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Children's Literature

Charis Cotter
The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall
(Tundra Books)

Jacqueline Halsey
Joe and the Wreck of the Tribune
(Nimbus Publishing)

Melanie Mosher
Bertie Stewart is Perfectly Imperfect
(Nimbus Publishing)

Willie Poll
Our Ancestor's Kitchen
(Annick Press)

Lauren Soloy
The Newest Gnome
(Tundra Books)

Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award

Renée Belliveau
A Sense of Things Beyond
(Vagrant Press)

Jaime Burnet
milktooth
(Vagrant Press)

Robert de la Chevotière
We Were Not Kings
(Little A)

Danny Jacobs
The Ignis Psalter
(Porcupine's Quill)

Danica Roache
Five Seasons of Charlie Francis
(Vagrant Press)

Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award (Nova Scotia)

Jessie Harrold
Mothershift: Reclaiming Motherhood as a Rite of Passage
(Shambhala Publications)

Marjorie Simmins
In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light, and Flight
(Pottersfield Press)

Halina St. James
The Golden Daughter: My Mother’s Secret Past as a Ukrainian Slave Worker in Nazi Germany
(House of Anansi Press)

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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