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

Shelagh Meagher

BIOGRAPHY
My work was first published in 1995 with a garden design book. I subsequently studied fiction at Humber College in their summer course and through a writers workshop in Geneva. My first two novels, ‘Colour Studies’ and ‘Pearls in the Ashes’ were mentored by Sarah Sheard and Karen Connelly, respectively, through the Humber College 8-month mentorship program available at that time.

My writing skills have been developed through the writing, editing, and completion of my first three novels with invaluable feedback given by editors, mentors and readers for each one.

I’m an experienced presenter at all levels, including a TEDX talk (viewable on my website).

I’ve lived in Toronto, London (England), Milan, Geneva and Detroit. I moved to LaHave, Nova Scotia in 2015.

PUBLICATIONS

The Spirit of the Garden, Boston Mills Press (Stoddart), garden design non-fiction, 1995
Pearls in the Ashes, Independently published, literary fiction, 2012
Gumption: The Practical Woman’s Guide to Living an Adventuresome Life, Independently published, self-improvement, 2014
Colour Studies, Independently published, general fiction, 2015
On Hammet Shore, Askance Publishing, literary fiction, 2025

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, 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