Member event

Join us for the book launch of Jacqueline Halsey’s new middle-grade historical fiction, Joe and the Wreck of the Tribune, and maybe learn to sing a Sea Shanty.

It’s 1797. Joe has lived with Gram ever since the crusty old midwife found him on her doorstep thirteen years ago. He must now earn his keep working as a fisher boy for her bad-tempered bully of a son, Eli. Joe loves the ocean, with its unpredictable moods and rolling waves. Could the Atlantic Ocean be his ticket to freedom? The battered, abandoned rowboat he finds could be his chance to break free from his miserable life and earn his own living. But mysteries surround the boat. The local carpenter is upset at the sight of it, and the initials carved on the boat match those on an old sea chest hidden in the back of Eli’s shed. Could this have anything to do with what happened to Joe’s parents?

Joe spends his time fixing up the boat and trying to solve these mysteries until a cold, stormy November day when a frigate wrecks at the mouth of the harbour. Joe’s neighbours don’t dare launch their boats into the raging storm to save the survivors. Can Joe stand by and listen to the desperate cries of the exhausted sailors, or should he brave the wild Atlantic in his patched-up rowboat and attempt to rescue them?

Inspired by the true story of the shipwreck of the HMS Tribune on the Herring Cove cliffs and the heroism of a boy known as “Joe Cracker,” this exciting coming-of-age adventure story is brimming with rich detail and captivating suspense.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing from Dartmouth Book Exchange.

About the Author: Jacqueline Halsey, originally from the UK, Jacqueline has lived in Nova Scotia, for over thirty years. She has written six highly acclaimed books, mostly inspired by her love of history, the ocean, and all things maritime.

Join Lunenburg area author N.L. Blandford for the launch of her fifth novel, Escaping Victoria.

Enjoy a short reading, Q&A, book signing, cake and merriment!

Set in the wilds of Nova Scotia, Escaping Victoria takes us on a hair-raising journey through the underworld of this idyllic province, exposing us to the intrigues, infighting and ever-changing loyalties of the organized crime syndicate known as The Family.

Escaping Victoria, and all of N.L. Blandford’s novels, will be available for purchase on site.

Shorebound Books in Shelburne is hosting a writing workshop — The Art, Craft, and Business of Writing — and book reading with donalee Moulton on Saturday, May 24 from 10 a.m. to noon. Interested readers and writers are invited to attend.

Debbie Marshall will present Too Many to Mourn: One Family’s Tragedy in the Halifax Explosion by James Mahar and Rowena Mahar. Rowena is Debbie’s Aunt, her mother’s youngest sister. The book tells the tragic story of a family that lost the most members during the explosion. This is in addition to the rest of our members presenting their books.

Our book club is unique, please read the following:

• Each participant will bring a locally authored or published novel they have recently read and can part with. Locally authored will be defined as an author living within the Atlantic Bubble.
• During the meeting, each person will take a turn telling everyone what they liked about the book they brought and why the others should read it.
• Each book will go into a basket and at the end of the meeting, if a book sparked your interest, you’ll be able to take it home to read.
• If there is more than one person interested in reading the book, it will be brought back to the next meeting, for another person’s turn.
• We may even host an author occasionally and Dartmouth Book Exchange may even seed the basket once in a while.
• All are welcome to come and listen during the meetings, but only the people who brought a book will be guaranteed to leave with a book.

Our Book Club aims to promote local authors, their books, and the writing of reviews. #supportlocalauthors

Come to Dartmouth’s oldest bar to hear two Dartmouth authors read from their novels nominated for 2025 Nova Scotia Book Awards: Charlene Carr (We Rip the World Apart, HarperCollins) and Susan LeBlanc (The Nowhere Places, Nimbus Publishing). The readings will be followed by a conversation moderated by bestselling author Donna Jones Alward (When the World Fell Silent, HarperCollins).

Doors open at 6:00, readings at 7:00.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 (cash only) at the door. Seating is limited.

Dartmouth Book Exchange will be on hand with books for sale by the three featured authors.

Join us for a night of murder and mayhem with donalee Moulton, author of Hung Out to Die, and Vernon Oickle, who will launch his ninth book in his Crow Series, Nine Crows for a Kiss. And to add some realism, retired RCMP officer Gary Grant, author of Walking Life’s Yellow Line My Way, will be joining us. There will even be a fun quiz about psychopaths. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is maybe one of the most well-known psychopaths, so we will be serving NovelTea’s Vlad’s First Bite: Berry Bliss Herbal Tea at 5:45 pm, with the event to follow. Advanced registration will be required by purchase of a $10 gift certificate to monitor our numbers

Congratulations you have a draft of your novel!

It’s time to slash, invigorate, and finesse your words, into a well rounded story before you hire an editor.

N.L. Blandford presents a workshop that will provide you with some tools, and hands on experience, to help you:
– Identify what to filter out of your novel.
– How to show a reader what is happening versus telling them.
– You don’t like to be told what to do, why would a reader?
– Assess your dialogue and emotion mechanics. – For example, are all of those adverbs necessary?
– Use the five senses.
– Analyze your word choice and potential use repetition
– Identify if your exposition is getting in the way of your story.

REGISTRATION REQUIRED: call the Margaret Hennigar Library at 902 543-9222

Join NS visual artists Jennifer Escottt, Frankie MacAulay, and Jacqueline Steudler, with writer-in-residence Clare Goulet for an informal celebration, chat, and reading of all things lichen. Drawing on the Purcells Cove/Herring Cove Backlands, each has their own reason and process for working with these astonishing collaborative organisms. Whether you’re an artist, poet, naturalist, or simply lichen-curious, come join the conversation. Free, all welcome. In support of the Backlands conservation.

Please join us to celebrate the launch of Jaime Burnet’s new novel, milktooth!

When Sorcha meets the volatile Chris— with her buttoned-up plaid, 90s heartthrob hair, and grand romantic gestures—things get serious. Fast. But when Sorcha becomes pregnant and Chris’s abuse escalates, Sorcha realizes she must escape the life they’ve built together, just as she escaped her own stifling family years before.

Jaime will be joined by authors Tiffany Morris and Elliott Gish. Books will be available for purchase.