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Great Call

Each year, WFNS invites expressions of interest from members of our Writers’ Council for compensated opportunities in the upcoming programming year.

To be eligible for a Writers’ Council opportunity, you need to also hold a current General Membership. The status of both memberships can be checked at any time through the “Memberships” tab of your Account page.

WFNS staff work to ensure that annual opportunities are shared as equitably as possible year-to-year among as many Writers’ Council members as possible. All expressions of interest are carefully considered, but limited opportunities (~60) are available in each programming year. Not all interested Writers’ Council members can be offered an opportunity each year, and WFNS’s Peer Assessment Policy permits staff to “go off-list,” should specific circumstances warrant, by soliciting Writers’ Council members and other professional authors who may not have submitted to this open call.

Unfortunately, WFNS staff do not have administrative capacity to respond to each expression of interest as we fill opportunities throughout the programming year. We can contact you about a specific program only if offering you an opportunity.

Creative writing & PD (professional development) workshop instructors (virtual delivery is standard; in-person delivery is available by offer only)
Required availability: fall (Sept – early Nov) or winter/spring (late Jan – April)
Compensation: $125 per instructional hour + supplemental fees for foundational and intensive workshops

Each year, roughly 35 instructors lead workshops in four creative writing formats and a flexible PD format:

    • Foundational workshops (6 or 9 two-hour sessions; min capacity of 9; max capacity of 15) are for new and emerging writers, featuring 3 co-instructors who collaborate on planning and each deliver 2 or 3 sessions. You may express interest in leading just a part of a foundational workshop, or you may identify other Writers’ Council members who’d like to co-instruct a full foundational workshop with you. Each co-instructor is compensated an additional $100 for a collaborative planning meeting.
    • Intensive workshops (5 two-hour sessions; min capacity of 6; max capacity of 6) are for writers with partial or complete manuscripts, foregrounding guided peer-feedback and including elements of professional development. The instructor is compensated an additional $150 for reading excerpts from participant manuscripts between sessions.
    • Masterclass workshops (1, 2, 3 or 4 two-hour sessions; min capacity of 6; max capacity of 12) are for established and professional authors only.
    • Standard workshops (1, 2, 3, or 4 two-hour sessions; min capacity of 6; max capacity of 12) are for writers of any combination of experience levels, as determined by the instructor.
    • PD workshops (1, 2, 3, or 4 two-hour sessions; min capacity of 6; max capacity of 15) cover business, logistical, and/or technical skills involved in a writing career and are for writers of any combination of experience levels, as determined by the instructor. (Please note: we have retired our “Taking Care of Business” format, which packaged workshops into a series. Future PD workshops will be standalone offerings and subject to minimum capacity requirements.)
Descriptions of participant experience levels

Creative writing workshop genres and topics:

  • Fiction genres: historical fiction (for adult or YA readers); speculative fiction (SFF or horror); suspense (thriller, crime, or mystery)
  • Fiction topics: author intrusion; character development; dialogue; plot structure; point of view & voice; scene-crafting
  • Nonfiction: memoir; nonfiction for YA readers; self-editing; structure/story-mapping; travel writing
  • Poetry: performing from the page; self-editing; self-publishing chapbooks

Above genres & topics have been requested by recent workshop participants. In addition, WFNS will run a series of speculative fiction workshops immediately following Hal-Con 2025 (Nov 7 to 9).

Fundamental and recurring PD topics:

  • applications (residencies, grants, mentorships, etc.)
  • community-building (networking, readership-building, writing groups, etc.)
  • finances (income streams, taxes, etc.)
  • literary agents (researching, pitching, and working with agents)
  • publishing (literary magazines, traditional presses, partner/hybrid presses, and self-/indie publishing)
  • pitches (nonfiction) and query letters (fiction)
  • self-promotion & publicity (launches, tours, interviews, social media, websites, etc.)
  • working with editors (press or contract)

Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program jurors (remote)
Required availability: November
Compensation: $315 + $5 per application assessed

Each year, 3 jurors assess all applications and select four to seven apprentice writers. Jurors are chosen to reflect the overall composition, in terms of form and genre, of the applications received. Applications are currently accepted only in the forms of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and YA / children’s writing.

Emerging Writers Prizes jurors (remote)
Required availability: October
Compensation: $315 + $5 per application assessed

Each year, 3 jurors assess all submissions and select recipients of our three Emerging Writers Prizes. Jurors are chosen to reflect the experiences and backgrounds relevant to the three prizes, ideally forming a jury that includes a speculative fiction writer, a nonfiction writer, a woman or other gender-marginalized writer, and a Black and/or African Nova Scotian writer.

Jampolis Cottage Residency Program jurors (remote)
Required availability: February through April
Compensation: $315 + $5 per application assessed

Each year, 3 jurors assess all applications and select recipients of all Sponsored Residencies and sponsored retreat positions at Jampolis Cottage. Jurors are chosen to reflect the experiences and backgrounds relevant to the residencies and retreats available, which may change from year to year.

Nova Scotia Book Awards and Atlantic Book Awards jurors (remote)
Required availability: November through February
Compensation: $315 + $5 per book assessed + 1 copy of each book assessed

Each year, 12 to 15 jurors (3 jurors for of four or five awards) assess all entries and select the finalists and winners of our book awards. Jurors are chosen to reflect the award genres.

Nova Writes Competition readers (remote)
Required availability: February through April
Compensation: in-kind (free General Membership for the current or the next year; credit toward workshop registration)

Each year, approximately 10 readers (across four categories) provide written feedback on entries in their categories. Each reader assesses and provides brief written feedback (100 words) on up to seven entries; recommends entries for the category shortlist; reviews entries recommended by other readers in the category; and meets with other readers in the category to determine a shortlist of four entries. All written feedback critiques entries for their originality, creativity, and quality of writing, including appraisal of form, structure, and literary technique.

Nova Writes Competition judges (remote)
Required availability: February through April
Compensation: $375

Each year, 4 judges (one in each of four categories) select the winning entries in their categories from shortlists of up to four. Each judge provides brief written feedback (200 words) on the three shortlisted entries; extended written feedback (500 words) on the winning entry; and a 1-hour, no-prep-required advisory session with the winning entrant. All written feedback critiques entries for their originality, creativity, and quality of writing, including appraisal of form, structure, and literary technique.

Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program mentors (remote)
Required availability: December through May
Compensation: $3000

Each year, 4 to 7 mentors provide intensive one-on-one-support through bi-weekly meetings to apprentice writers as each apprentice works on a fiction, nonfiction, or poetry manuscript on the cusp of professional publication. Selection of mentors is determined by the form and genre of successful applications, peer assessment juror recommendations, and staff coordination of logistics with potential mentors. Mentorships are currently offered only in the forms of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and YA / children’s writing.

Coffee Chats advisors (remote)
Flexible availability
Compensation: $65 per 30-minute session

Advisors offer their experiences and opinions (on the writing life, writing practices, writing struggles, and career paths) to newer writers through informal, no-prep-required, half-hour conversations via Zoom or phone. No distinct advisor profile is necessary: those interested will see the “Biography” field of their Writers’ Council profiles listed on the Coffee Chats page.

     If you are already listed as a Coffee Chats advisor, please re-express your interest so that we can confirm all listed advisors are still available.
     If your General Membership expired more than 1 year ago, your Writers’ Council profile is no longer displayed on the Coffee Chats scheduling page, a measure which keeps the list of advisors as current as possible.

Manuscript Review Program reviewers (remote)
Flexible availability
Compensation: a minimum of $100 per manuscript (scaling upward with length); a minimum of $75 per nonfiction pitch or fiction query letter (scaling upward with length)

Reviewers read submitted manuscripts and provide short reviews (a minimum of 500 words) containing of high-level, developmental feedback on form & genre, craft & technique, and possibilities for further developing the manuscript. Qualified reviewers also read submitted nonfiction pitch drafts and/or fiction query letter drafts and provide short reviews (a minimum of 250 words) containing advice on improving these sales-oriented documents. A distinct reviewer profile is required (indicating forms and genres of expertise, indicating pitch/query expertise as applicable, and including a description of experience) for listing on the Manuscript Review Program page.

     If you are already listed as a manuscript reviewer, please re-express your interest so that we can confirm all listed reviewers are still available.
     If your General Membership expired more than 1 year ago, your reviewer profile has been removed from the Manuscript Review Program application page, a measure which keeps the list of reviewers as current as possible.

Writers In The Schools (WITS) authors (in-person with occasional remote opportunities)
Required availability: September through December and/or January through June
Compensation: $175 per half-day visit (one or two 45 – 55 minute sessions) or $350 per full-day visit (three or four 45 – 55 minute sessions) + mileage

WITS authors visit elementary and secondary schools in Nova Scotia, usually in-person and occasionally virtually, to deliver presentations, workshops, and readings to students. All interested Writers’ Council members are accepted into the program, but the number of visits each WITS author undertakes in a year is determined by school requests. A distinct WITS profile is required (indicating preferred grade levels, travel range, presentation ideas, and other crucial information) for listing on the WITS application page.

Interested Writers’ Council members must opt in by following the steps in our Guide for WITS Authors (opens in a new tab). There is no field in the below expression-of-interest form pertaining to WITS.

Expressions of interest are accepted annually from May 1 to May 31

Expression-of-interest form

Enter either the URL of your author website or "Writers' Council profile" if your profile is sufficient.
With each selection, one or more relevant and required form fields will appear below. Deselect an opportunity to remove the associated fields.

1113 Marginal Road

Halifax, NS B3H 4P7

902 423 8116

contact@writers.ns.ca

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Operational Investors

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.

© Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, 2025. All rights reserved.

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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

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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.