WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px
WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px

Sara O’Leary

BIOGRAPHY

PUBLICATIONS

FICTION

The Ghost in the House: A Novel (Doubleday Canada, 2020)

Comfort Me with Apples (Thistledown Press, 1998)

Wish You Were Here (Exile Editions, 1994)

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:                   

The Little Books of the Little Brontës (Tundra, 2023)

Gemma and the Giant Girl (Tundra Books, 2021)

A Kid is a Kid is a Kid (Groundwood Books, 2021)

This is Ruby (Tundra, 2021)

Night Walk (Groundwood Books, 2020)

Maud and Grandmaud (Random House Kids, 2020)

Owls Are Good at Keeping Secrets (Random House/Tundra, 2018)

The Boy and the Blue Moon (Godwin Books, Henry Holt, 2018)

A Family Is a Family Is a Family (Groundwood Books, 2016)

You Are One/Two/Three (Owl Kids, 2016/17)

This Is Sadie (Tundra Books, 2015)

When I Was Small (Simply Read Books, 2011)

Where You Came From (Simply Read Books, 2008

When You Were Small (Simply Read Books, 2006)

AWARDS

Vicky Metcalfe Prize, Writers Trust 2024

Alice Kitts Memorial Prize, NB Book Prizes, 2024

Marilyn Baille Picture Book Prize 2007

BC Books Picture Book Prize, 2007

First Place, Theatre BC Canadian National Play Competition (2004)

 

 

Scroll to Top
WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px

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