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Sue MacLeod

BIOGRAPHY
Sue MacLeod is the author of one YA novel, Namesake, and three poetry collections. Since 2022 she has been working on picture book manuscripts. In 2024 she was a picture book mentee with Whale Rock Workshops, won an Arts Nova Scotia grant to write a picture book trilogy about lighthouse children, and placed as a finalist in a US-based contest, PBParty. In 2025 she signed with an agent, Abigail Samoun of Red Fox Literary. Her debut picture book (soon to be announced) will be published in fall 2027.

Sue has made her home in Halifax, where she was the city’s first poet laureate (2001 to 2005) and in Toronto and Montreal. She has read from her work across Canada and has taught creative writing at Dalhousie University, the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Quebec Writers’ Federation.

Her poems have been described as “necessary and cherishable” (George Elliott Clarke); and Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang, writing in Open Book Toronto, said, “I wandered around town quoting her poetry out loud to myself until I noticed how many people crossed the street to avoid me.” Reviewing Sue’s YA novel, Canadian Children’s Book News wrote, “without a misstep .. this book is a gem” and CM Magazine agreed: “In every way, this book is a triumph.”

Sue now lives in south end Halifax, working on new picture book manuscripts and taking frequent strolls along the boardwalk.

PUBLICATIONS

Mood Swing, with Pear (Signature Editions, 2016)
Namesake (Pajama Press, 2013)
To Find Us: Words and Images of Halifax (Editor; Halifax Regional Municipality, 2005)
That Singing You Hear at the Edges (Signature Editions, 2003)
The Language of Rain (Roseway Publishing, 1995)

AWARDS

Finalist, PBParty, 2024

Shortlist, Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence, 2014 (for freelance book editing)

Shortlist, National Chapter of Canada IODE Violet Downey Book Award, 2013 (for Namesake)

Best Books for Kids and Teens selection, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2013 (for Namesake)

Shortlist, Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award, 2006 (for editing To Find Us: Words and Images of Halifax)

Inaugural Poet Laureate, Halifax Regional Municipality, 2001 to 2005

Arc’s Poem of the Year Award, 2000

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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