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Michael Bawtree

BIOGRAPHY
Michael Bawtree was born in Australia, raised and educated in Britain, and came to Canada in 1962. Michael has worked in Canadian theatre and television for over forty years. Founding artistic director of the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Wolfville, he has also served as associate director of the Stratford Festival and was for many years director of drama at Acadia University. He is the author of a number of plays, including The Last of the Tsars, as well as a book on music theatre, The New Singing Theatre, and a young person’s novel, Joe Howe to the Rescue. He was the executive director of the Joseph Howe Initiative, celebrating Joe Howe in his two hundredth year birthday. His young adult novel, Joe Howe to the Rescue, was released by Nimbus in 2004. Today’s Joe Howe – “the greatest Nova Scotian” written by Trevor J. Adams and Michael Bawtree, was published by the Joseph Howe Initiative in 2004.

Other published works include a DVD about D-Day,  and CDs of ‘Three Men In A Boat’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’.

He went on to write the first volume of his memoirs, As Far As I Remember, which was published by Like No Other Press in 2015. His latest publication is the second volume of his memoirs, The Best Fooling, published by Like No Other Press in 2017.

AWARDS

Queen’s Jubilee Medal for service to the community, 2003

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Winner of the 2005 Lilla Sterling Award for Joe Howe to the Rescue

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Shortlisted for the 2005 Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature for Joe Howe to the Rescue

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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