Hui Zhou

BIOGRAPHY
“It may take time, but dreams can come true.” This speaks to Hui Zhou, a bilingual nonfiction writer with a long career in natural science. 

Born, educated, worked, married, became a mother and a respected senior scientist in her home city Beijing, Hui created her next opportunity to Canada. In the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, she researched in her favourite field, entomology and obtained a Master of Science Degree, dreamed for a long time, from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.

Still, Hui explores wider in science, but she never stops writing that had been one of her hobbies for most of her life. Since 2016, she has focused more on writing, one more dream come true.

Many of her nonfiction stories have been published in print and heard on radio broadcast since the 1990’s. Her latest publications include, Grandpa Santa, published in The Chronicle Herald and three other Atlantic daily newspapers on a same day, December 3, 2021. It was about how her daughter at six excitedly learned about Christmas in her birth country where Christmas has never been a holiday. Over the SandBar was published by The Masthead News 2025 (October Issue). A Glance at an Old Newspaper, about how Hui “ran into” the history of the Halifax Explosion, was published on Blood & Bourbon Magazine, Issue #15, 2025. It was also named as a Finalist in 2025 Next Generation Short Story Awards.

Running Wild with Bossy Boy (2018) is Hui’s first nonfiction photograph-storybook for children about a flock of free-run backyard chickens, focusing on their different personalities, or to them, chicken-alities. Children can easily understand chicken’s personalities, learn the biology through the interesting stories and imagine how happy the chickens are when running freely.

In Hui’s second nonfiction photograph-storybook, Puppy Oland (2023), children will meet the lively dog Oland and discover what Oland liked at his puppy training, if Oland was a good swimmer, how many corn ears Oland retrieved from neighboring campers, whom Oland once badly offended . . .

The success, in writing, photographing, book design, self-publishing, marketing and much more, encourages Hui’s further works to participate in nonfiction contests or awards.

Hui loves animals, including insects that she has studied and especially now speaking for about their beauty, their irreplaceable importance to the ecosystem and their dramatic population decline because of human activities.

Gardening, a heritage from her grandpa, remains her favorite pastime.

PUBLICATIONS

CHILDREN’S BOOK

    • Running Wild with Bossy Boy (2018)

 

    • Puppy Oland (2023)

 

PRINT or RADIO MEDIUM

    • Blood & Bourbon

 

    • SaltWire (Atlantic Canada)

 

    • Atlantic Books Today

 

    • The Masthead News

 

    • Nova Scotia based Radio Program, Sentimental Journey, 2016

 

    • Dakai Maritime Newspaper (English/Chinese bilingual newspaper quarterly in Nova Scotia), 2015

 

    • China Surveying and Mapping Magazine, 2007-present

 

    • China Surveying and Mapping Newspaper, 2011

 

    • Canada East Coast Chinese Newspaper (no longer exists), 2006-2008

 

    • ShanXi Today Magazine, 2000

 

    • China International Travel Health, 1998

 

    • Beijing Evening Newspaper, 1996

 

NONFICTION IN ENGLISH

    • Zhou. 2025. A Glance at an Old Newspaper. Blood & Bourbon: Issue 15

 

    • Zhou. 2023. Over the Sandbar. The Masthead News. October 2023.

 

    • Zhou. 2021. Chinese Family Found “Grandpa Santa” Before Immigrating. SaltWire daily newspapers: The ChronicleHerald (Halifax), Cape Breton Post (Sydney, NS ), The Guardian (Charlottetown, PEI), The Telegram (St. John’s NFL). December 3, 2021.

 

    • Zhou. 2021. Walking with Oland. Non-fiction contest. Winter in the Bay. Your Bay Stories: Winter with Our Pets. March, 2021

 

    • Zhou. 2020. Come Ride with Me. The Masthead News. September 2, 2020

 

    • Zhou. 2018. Wild Chickens for the Soul. Atlantic Books Today. Aug. 2018

 

    • Zhou. 2017. Grandpa Santa. The Masthead News. December 6, 2017

 

    • Zhou. 2016. Matching at Night. Sentimental Journey, Nova Scotia-based radio program, August 28, 2016

 

    • Zhou. 2016. Mock Orange Blossom. Sentimental Journey, Nova Scotia-based radio program, July 10, 2016

 

    • Zhou. 2015. The Golden Autumn at Saint Margaret’s Bay. Dakai Maritime. September Issue 2015

 

    • Zhou. 2015. The Six Legged Creatures. Dakai Maritime. June Issue 2015

 

    • Zhou. 2015. My Gardening Stories in Nova Scotia. Dakai Maritime. March Issue 2015

 

NONFICTION IN CHINESE

    • Zhou. 2018. 小螳螂和“小刀愣” (Marvel Baby Mantises and Our Little Daughter). 中国测绘杂志 China Surveying and Mapping Magazine. 2018 (4): 74-75

 

    • Zhou. 2018. 愿蛙声依旧 (Listening to the Frogs). 中国测绘报 China Surveying and Mapping Newspaper. May 29, 2018

 

    • Zhou. 2017. 再议英文名字的翻译 (A Disaster to English Names Translated into Chinese). 中国测绘杂志 China Surveying and Mapping Magazine. 2017 (2): 66-67

 

    • Zhou. 2016. 世界瑰宝−方迪湾 (World Treasure−the Bay of Fundy). 中国测绘杂志 China Surveying and Mapping Magazine. 2016 (6): 76-79

 

    • Zhou. 2016. 多彩的冬天 (Winter Variety in Nova Scotia). 中国测绘杂志 China Surveying and Mapping Magazine. (2): 78-81

 

    • Zhou. 2015. 昆虫:六条腿的小生灵(The Six Legged Creatures). Dakai Maritime. June Issue 2015

 

    • Zhou. 2015. 种瓜种豆的启示 (My Gardening Stories in Nova Scotia). Dakai Maritime. March Issue 2015

 

    • Zhou. 2012. 准备过冬 (Being Ready for Winter). aucnln.com/authorDetail.htm?userid=32

 

    • Zhou. 2011. 曾经杏花村 (Apricot in Bloom). 中国测绘杂志 China Surveying and Mapping Magazine. 2011 (2): 46-51

 

    • Zhou. 2011. 谁是“老外” (Who Are “Foreigners”-Lao Wai). 中国测绘报 China Surveying and Mapping Newspaper. Feb. 25, 2011

 

    • Zhou. 2011, 从英文名字翻译想到的 (What Have Been Twisted When English Names Translated into Chinese). 澳华文学网aucnln.com/authorDetail.htm?userid=32

 

    • Zhou. 2010. 大火烧到家门时 (Fire in the Woods at Glen Haven Nova Scotia in 2006). 澳华文学网aucnln.com/authorDetail.htm?userid=32

 

    • Zhou. 2010. 妞妞的圣诞姥爷 (NiuNiu and Her Grandpa Santa). 澳华文学网aucnln.com/authorDetail.htm?userid=32

 

    • Zhou. 2009. 走进历史 (History Brought to My Life). 中国测绘杂志 China Surveying and Mapping Magazine. 2009 (6): 70-73

 

    • Zhou. 2008. 你啊“洋姜” (Dear Jerusalem Artichoke). East Coast Chinese Newspaper. May Issue 2008

 

    • Zhou. 2007. 金秋“圣·玛格瑞斯”海湾 (The Golden Autumn at Saint Margaret’s Bay). 中国测绘杂志 China Surveying and Mapping Magazine. 2007 (6): 44-47

 

    • Zhou. 2001. 多想有枚北大校徽,北大往事(二) (Beyond the Badge of Peking University, Peking University Memoir Collection(2): 75-83). 新世界出版社 New World Press.

 

    • Zhou. 2000. “故乡”永济 (Yong ji, My “Hometown“). 今日山西杂志 ShanXi Today Magazine. 2000 (6): 36

 

    • Zhou. 1998. 二连浩特散记(A Short Piece of Erenhot). 国际旅行卫生杂志 China International Travel Health Magazine. 1998(2):44-45

 

    • Zhou. 1996. 太平花开 (Mock Orange Blossom). 北京晚报 Beijing Evening News, Dec. 9, 1996:15

 

Updated on May 7, 2025

AWARDS

NONFICTION AWARD

    • Title “A Glance at an Old Newspaper”, named as a Finalist in 2025 Next Generation Short Story Awards

 


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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