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Diane Carmel Léger

BIOGRAPHY
For 20 years, Diane lived in Victoria, British Columbia, where she taught French Immersion and wrote books in both French and English. She had the incredible luck of living in Emily Carr’s home for her first year and, for her last year in Victoria. Her family was involved in saving some of the world’s tallest trees on Vancouver Island. Both experiences inspired her award-winning books such as the bestseller, Maxine’s Tree.

She is now living near her native village of Memramcook. It was her homesickness for the Maritimes that led her to writing her first book, La butte à Pétard. Published in 1989, this popular novel is the story of a family who escaped deportation by hiding in the woods. Since 1989, this book has been studied in Canadian and Cajun schools. The augmented edition won the Hackmatack Award in 2006.

Her latest short novel, Piau’s Potato Present is a story of friendship, peace and of the poutine râpée. This tale is based on German settlers’ anecdotes about Pierre Belliveau, an Acadian from the Annapolis Valley, who saved them from starvation.

Diane’s new picture book, My Two Grandmothers, is a gently humorous story which lovingly compares her Acadian Mémére and Scottish Nannie.

AWARDS

Finalist Prix Hackmatack 2016 La patate cadeau OU la vraie histoire de la poutine râpée

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Finalist Prix Tamarac 2015 La patate cadeau OU la vraie histoire de la poutine râpée

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Prix Éloi 2015 Literary contributions to culture in the Memramcook Valley

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Dr Marilyn Trenholme Counsell Literacy Award, 2014 Outstanding Contributions to Literacy

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Special Mention New Brunswick Writers’ Competition 2014 My Two Grandmothers

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Finalist Prix France-Acadie 2012 Échos de la butte à Pétard

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Choisir-un-livre-sélection (France) 2011 Échos de la butte à Pétard

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Finalist Prix France-Acadie 2009 Retour à La butte à Pétard

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Selected for Best Books for Kids & Teens 2009 Canada, Emily Carr’s Attic

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Choisir-un-livre-sélection (France) 2009 Retour à La butte à Pétard

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Choisir-un-livre-sélection (France) 2008 La butte à Pétard

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Hackmatack Award 2006-French Fiction La butte à Pétard (édition augmentee)

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Communication-Jeunesse-sélection (Québec) 2005-2006 La butte à Pétard

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Finalist Prix France Acadie 2005 L’arbre de Maxine

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Atlantic Writing Competition Second Prize-Play 1996 Zel-Mai’s Take-Out

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The Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice Award 1992 The Attic of All Sorts

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The Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice Award 1991 Maxine’s Tree

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Mention spéciale Prix France-Acadie 1990 La butte à Pétard

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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 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