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Charlotte Ashley

BIOGRAPHY
Charlotte is a writer, editor, book historian, and bookseller living in Kjipuktuk, where she owns & runs Trident Booksellers & Cafe, Trident Roastery, and is Executive Chair of the Trident Conference for Writers of Speculative Fiction (TriCon.)

Her short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, PodCastle, Kaleidotrope and elsewhere, has been included in The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy and The Year’s Best Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy, and has been nominated for both the Aurora and Sunburst Awards. She has also written for TTRPGs, interactive fiction, musical theatre, and more.

PUBLICATIONS

‘Distant Skies’, Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction Vol. 1, ed. Stephen Kotowych (Ansible Press, 2023) (Nominee: World Fantasy Award 2024, Winner: Aurora Award 2024)
Fool’s Gold ed Dominik Parisien, Hit Point Press, 2024
Speckleback, The Book of Big Bads, Hit Point Press, 2024 (Nominee: 2025 Ennie Award)
Scula, The Book of Big Bads, Hit Point Press, 2024 (Nominee: 2025 Ennie Award)
‘The Joy in Wounding’, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2019
‘She Falls’, Broad Knowledge: 35 Women Up To No Good ed. H.L. Nelson and Joanne Merriam, (Upper Rubber Boot, 2018)
‘Gog and Magog‘, Kaleidotrope, Spring 2018
‘The Satyr of Brandenburg,’ The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Mar/Apr 2018
‘Orang Tua Adventure Home Academy’, Sum of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound ed. Lucas Law & Susan Forest, (Laksa Media, 2017)
‘A Fine Balance’, The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2017 ed. Rich Horton, (Prime Books, 2017)
‘La Clochemar’, Clockwork Canada ed. Dominik Parisien, (Exile Editions, 2016)
‘More Heat Than Light’, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2016
‘La Héron’, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2015 (Nominee, 2016 Aurora Award for Best English Short Fiction, 2016 Sunburst Award – Short Story)
‘Utopia: An Interactive Crisis’ (Twine game) (October 2014)

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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