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Lori Weber

BIOGRAPHY
Lori Weber is the author of nine young adult novels, including The Ribbon Leaf (Red Deer Press), a historical novel set in WWII, which won the 2023 Canadian Jewish Literary Award and was nominated for the Red Maple Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Award; Yellow Mini (Fitzhenry & Whiteside), a novel in verse; and Deep Girls (Dancing Cat Books), a short-story collection. She has also published two middle grade novels, Lightning Lou (Dancing Cat Books) and Picture me (James Lorimer), as well as one picture book, My Granny Loves Hockey (Simply Read Books). She has also published short fiction, poetry, and non-fiction in several Canadian literary journals. She holds a BA in Creative Writing and English from Concordia University, an MA in English from Acadia University, and a Diploma in Education from McGill. A native Montrealer, she lived for several years in Atlantic Canada where she taught English in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Upon returning to Montreal in 1994, she taught English at Vanier College before moving to John Abbott College in 1996, a position she retired from in 2020. She has delivered workshops in writing for teens through the Quebec Writers’ Federation, and has been their young adult fiction mentor for many years. She has represented Quebec twice for TD Canadian Book Week and has been offering classroom workshops around Quebec as a member of the Culture-in-the-Schools and Artists Inspire Programs since 2005. After retiring, Lori returned to Nova Scotia, where she currently lives in Dartmouth.

PUBLICATIONS

The Ribbon Leaf Red Deer Press, 2022. YA historical novel. Nominated for the 2023 Red Maple Award and the 2023 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Youth. It won the 2023 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Fiction and was chosen for  Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2022.

Deep Girls (9781770865310) Dancing Cat Books, 2018. Short-story collection.

Lightning Lou (9781770864627) Dancing Cat Books, May 2016. Runner-up for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Fiction 2017. 

My Granny Loves Hockey  (9781927018439) Simply Read Books, October 2014. Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2015. 

Picture Me  (9781459405103) James Lorimer and Co., October, 2013. 

Yellow Mini (9781554551996) Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2011: Ontario Library Association Best Book selection 2012. Finalist for the 2012 Quebec Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Starred selection of the Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2012.

Klepto (9782896515035) La Courte Echelle (Translation), 2011.

 If You Live Like Me (9781897550120)Lobster Press, 2009: Included in the Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices 2010 (Madison, Wisconsin); Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2010. Book reissued by Heritage House Publishing, Spring 2015. (9781772030525) 

Strange Beauty  (9781550289411) James Lorimer and Co., 2006:  Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2008.

Tattoo Heaven (9781550289022) James Lorimer and Co., 2005:  Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2008.

Split (9781550288780) James Lorimer and Co., 2005: Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Selection 2006

Klepto (9781550288360) James Lorimer and Co., 2004: Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Selection 2005; Shortlisted ALA Popular Paperbacks 2006.

“Through the Wire Fence.” The Land Newly Formed: Eyewitness Accounts of the Canadian Immigrant Experience. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2006. (Essay, reprinted in Reader’s Digest)

“A Birth”, “Ralph’s Bar, Mansonville”, “Pedaling Out”. Atlantis, Fall, 2001. (Poetry)

“My Father is German, but I am Canadian.” Talking About Identity, Between the Lines, 2001. (Essay)

“Amnesty.” Canadian Fiction Magazine, Sept 1999. (Short Story)

“In a Tribal Society.” TickleAce, December 1993. (Poetry)

“A Woman Crosses” and “Ritual One”. Room of One’s Own V14, No3, 1991(Poetry)

“Romeo’s Ears.” LOS V.12, 1988-1989. (Short Story)

“Trip With Brock..” Celebrating Canadian Women: Prose and Poetry By and About Women.  Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1989. (Short Story)

“Surgery Bay.” The Lyric Paragraph: A Collection of Canadian Prose Poems.  Montreal: DC Books, 1987 (Poetry).

“Goddess of Her Own Kingdom.” Soundings: A Collection of Vanier College Writing.  Montreal: Vanier College, 1979. (Short Story)

AWARDS

The 2023 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Fiction, for The Ribbon Leaf (Red Deer Press 2023)

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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