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Jane Doucet launches Blood Typed: A Val Jenkins Mystery

Date:
Time:
-
Venue:
Dartmouth Book Exchange
Location:
1187 Cole Harbour Road, Dartmouth. More info
Link:
https://dartmouthbookexchange.ca/events/
Calendar:
Member-organized event

Space is limited, please register in advance for this free event at 902-435-1207

Blood Typed is an uproarious and satirical contemporary mystery set in Nova Scotia’s author community from the author of Fishnets & Fantasies.

Welcome to the NOVA Prize gala dinner, where one Nova Scotian author will go home with the $100,000 grand prize, unless they don’t go home at all….

Val Jenkins is stuck. A journalist for the Halifax Post, she’s been writing a local books column for over a decade. But ever since she was a precocious Nancy Drew wannabe, she’s longed to cover the crime beat. When the gala ceremony approaches for the annual NOVA Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Canada, Val anticipates more of the same old thing: authors in various interpretations of “formal” wear, hiding their simmering jealousies while dreaming of the life-changing prize money. But this year, something happens that no one could have expected. Murder.

The off-beat cast of shortlisted authors each has their own secrets and grudges to hide: the well-published romance writer Sonya King, whom readers will recognize from Fishnets & Fantasies; Victor Comeau, a narcissistic professor with delusions of grandeur; Sally MacPhee, a terminally ill writer who just wants to add “award-winning” to her bio; and Alexander Fitzgerald, a literary darling who has the Canada Revenue Agency on his back. Rounding out the cast are an embittered editor with dreams of authorship, an octogenarian bookie with indigestion, a pair of homicide detectives hot on the case, and one nosy historical portrait.

Marking the first in the raucous new Val Jenkins series, Blood Typed is an uproarious satire of literary culture, and a uniquely Canadian mystery.

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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