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Alison DeLory

BIOGRAPHY
Alison DeLory is a writer, editor, teacher, and communications professional. She is currently the Associate Director, Writing & Publishing with the University of King’s College’s MFA program. Prior to this she was Director, Advancement Communications with Dalhousie University (2020 – 2026).

Books

  • Author, Making it Home, Nimbus Publishing (2019) (Finalist for Rakuten/Kobo Emerging Writer Prize) (novel)
  • Author, Scotia Sinker, Sketch Publishing (2015) (early chapter book)
  • Anthology contributor, Becoming Fierce: Teen Stories IRL, Fierce Ink (2014) (young adult)
  • Author, Lunar Lifter, Bryler Publishing (2012) (early chapter book)
  • Managing Editor, Take as Directed, ECW Press (2010) (nonfiction adult)

Magazines

  • Editor, Dal Magazine (2025 – 2026); editorial panel, Dal Magazine (2021 – 2026)
  • Editor, Tidings, University of King’s College (2018 – 2020)
  • Editor, Folia Montana, Mount Saint Vincent University (2011 – 2014)
  • Atlantic Canada Correspondent, Chatelaine Magazine (2009 – 2011)
  • Associate Editor, The Medical Post (2001 – 2007)

Teaching Experience

University of King’s College, 8-week non-credit writing workshops

  • Organizational Storytelling (2025)
  • Fiction Fundamentals (2021)

Mount Saint Vincent University, credit courses in Communication Studies (2013 – 2019)

  • Persuasive Writing
  • Strategic Writing
  • Intro to Writing and Editing
  • Creative Nonfiction
  • Mass Media and Public Opinion

Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) (2016 – 2017)

  • Media Literacy

Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia

  • Creative Nonfiction workshop (2016)
  • The Braided Essay workshop (2015)

Writers in the Schools (WITS)

  • Classroom visits grads primary to 9 (2010 – 2018)

Selected Writing Samples

Judge

  • Evelyn Richardson Nonfiction Award, Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (2017)
  • CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize (2016)

Education
MPR (MSVU), BPR (MSVU), BAA in Journalism (TMU), Leadership Badge (Dalhousie)

 

AWARDS

Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education
Gold, 2022
Silver, 2021

Kobo/Rakuten Emerging Writer Prize
Finalist for debut novel Making it Home (Nimbus Publishing), 2019

Canadian Progress Club, Halifax
Women of Excellence (Communications), 2014

Mount St Vincent University
President’s Prize, 2013
Best Blog & Poetry Prize, 2012

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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