Events

Book Fair at the Wolfville Farmers’ Market

Date:
Time:
-
Location:
24 Elm St, Wolfville. More info
Calendar:

Join us for a book fair at the Wolfville Farmers’ Market! This outdoor pop-up event will take place during the bustling Saturday Market. There will be local authors, bookstores, publishers, and a Book Lovers Raffle Prize. Get to meet local authors while stocking up on your Fall book lists!

Participants include Amanda Peters, Anne Smith-Nochasak, Shelley Thompson, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen, Open Secrets Bookstore, Cape Split Press, Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, Braden Press, Fernwood Publishing, and more!

Book Fair at the Wolfville Farmers’ Market Read More »

Finding Your Voice: A Writers’ Retreat with Marjorie Simmins

Date/Time:
September 19, 2025 - September 21, 2025
Location:
249 Water Street, Pugwash. More info
Calendar:

A three-day retreat on the shores of the Northumberland Strait. Open to emerging and established writers. Includes one-on-one chats with author and journalist Marjorie Simmins to identify your writing strengths and goals, as well as group discussions related to the craft of non-fiction. Lots of time for beach walks, the Farmers’ Market, and exploring the seaside town. For more details: mls@marjoriesimmins.ca

Finding Your Voice: A Writers’ Retreat with Marjorie Simmins Read More »

Wanda Campbell launches “Spring Theory”

Date:
Time:
-
Location:
10 Highland Avenue, Beveridge Arts Centre, Wolfville. More info
Calendar:

Wanda Campbell will launch her latest poetry collection, Spring Theory (Pottersfield Press) at the Acadia University Art Gallery in Wolfville on Thursday, September 18, at 7pm. The book travels from fall’s darkness to spring’s light with poems inspired by Alex Colville’s images of the Annapolis Valley, prose poem tributes to Canadian writers, and the lost sonnets of “Dementia Diary Down Under” that delve into the unpredictable experiences of aging relatives. Campbell has published five other poetry collections and a novel, Hat Girl. She teaches Creative Writing and Literature at Acadia.

Cash-only book table.

Wanda Campbell launches “Spring Theory” Read More »

In Conversation: Donna Jones Alward and Renée Belliveau

Date:
Time:
-
Location:
5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax. More info
Calendar:

Join Donna Jones Alward (Ship of Dreams) and Renée Belliveau (A Sense of Things Beyond) at the Halifax Central Library for a conversation about their new releases. Books will be available for purchase and signing from Bookmark.

In Conversation: Donna Jones Alward and Renée Belliveau Read More »

Locally Authored Book Club Exchange

Date:
Time:
-
Location:
1187 Cole Harbour Road, Dartmouth. More info
Calendar:

Our next book club meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 17th.

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

Locally Authored Book Club Exchange Read More »

Rick Mofina launches ‘If Two Are Dead’

Date:
Time:
-
Location:
5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax. More info
Calendar:

Join us for the Halifax launch of If Two Are Dead, the latest book by bestselling author Rick Mofina.

Rick Mofina is a former journalist and bestselling author of more than thirty crime fiction thrillers that have been published in nearly thirty countries. He is a two-time winner of The Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence; a Barry Award winner; a four-time Thriller Award finalist and a two-time Shamus Award finalist. Library Journal calls him “One of the best thriller writers in the business.”

Rick will be in conversation with author B.R. Myers (The Third Wife of Faraday House, A Dreadful Splendour). A Q&A will follow, and books will be available for purchase.

Rick Mofina launches ‘If Two Are Dead’ Read More »

Sarah Emsley at Prescott House

Date:
Time:
-
Location:
1633 Starr's Point, Port Williams. More info
Calendar:

Come join us as author Sarah Emsley reads from her novel The Austens.

Sunday, September 14th, 2-4pm
Free Admission
Books will be available for purchase.
Light refreshments will be served.

Praise for The Austens:

“Deeply researched and lovingly imagined.”
– Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club

“Emsley breathes wondrous new life into those magical years when Jane was blossoming into one of the world’s greatest novelists, while Fanny’s life unfurled with marriage, children, and travel.”
– Devoney Looser, author of Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane

“Painstakingly crafted and enthrallingly plotted.”
– George Elliott Clarke, author of Where Beauty Survived: An Africadian Memoir

“Brimming with intelligence, empathy, and pathos.”
– Syrie James, author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen

Sarah Emsley at Prescott House Read More »

Briana Corr Scott book signing

Date:
Time:
-
Location:
3660 Strawberry Hill Street, Halifax. More info
Calendar:

Come join our Sunday Signing series and grab a coffee with the author and illustrator Briana Corr Scott.

While you’re here, grab a personally autographed copy of Briana Corr Scott’s various books–– including the Anne of Green Gables bind-up with her beautiful cover illustration, which is Open Book Coffee’s September book club pick.

Briana Corr Scott book signing Read More »

Scroll to Top

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 and 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.

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 information, strategies, and skills that suit their career stage. 

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 you’re uncertain of your experience level with regard to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca