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2025 Atlantic & Nova Scotia Book Awards shortlists

The shortlists for the 2025 Atlantic Book Awards and 2025 Nova Scotia Book Awards were jointly announced on March 31 at the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (Halifax).

Congratulations to the twenty authors shortlisted for WFNS’s five Atlantic & Nova Scotia Book Awards! Extra congrats to Annick MacAskill, whose Votive (Gaspereau Press) is shortlisted for both the Abraham Award and the Tynes Award!

Click the shortlisted authors’ book covers for more details, and read the Atlantic Book Awards press release for other Atlantic & Nova Scotia Book Awards shortlists.


J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award​

Clare Goulet
Graphis scripta / writing lichen
(Gaspereau Press)

Annick MacAskill
Votive
(Gaspereau Press)

Johanna Skibsrud
Medium
(Bookhug Press)

Bren Simmers
The Work
(Gaspereau Press)

Douglas Walbourne-Gough
Island
(Goose Lane Editions)


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

Chad Lucas
You Owe Me One, Universe
(Abrams Books)

Rebecca Phillips
The End of Always
(Second Storey Press)

Valerie Sherrard
Standing on Neptune
(DCB)

Hannah State
Journey to the Dark Galaxy
(Glowing Light Press)

Gloria Ann Wesley
Shovels Not Rifles
(Formac)


Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award

Carol Bruneau
Threshold: Stories
(Nimbus Publishing)

Charlene Carr
We Rip the World Apart
(HarperCollins Canada)

David Huebert
Oil People
(McClelland & Stewart)

Susie Taylor
Vigil
(Breakwater Books)

Mark Blagrave
Felt
(Cormorant Books)


Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award (Nova Scotia)

Bartin Bauman
Hell of a Ride: Chasing Home and Survival on a Bicycle Ride Across Canada
(Pottersfield Press)

Andrea Currie
Finding Otipemisiwak: The People Who Own Themselves
(Arsenal Pulp Press)

Dean Jobb
A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue
(HarperCollins Canada)


Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award

Alice Burdick
Ox Lost, Snow Deep
(Anvil Press)

Cory Lavender
Come One Thing Another
(Gaspereau Press)

Annick MacAskill
Votive
(Gaspereau Press)

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The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia is based in Kjipuktuk, in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship,” which Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1725. The treaties do not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognize Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) title and establish the rules for an ongoing relationship between nations.

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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