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Susan Zetell

BIOGRAPHY
“Keen unsparing observation expressed in palpable shimmering prose.” – Jim Bartley, Globe and Mail
“Zettell has a passion for careful, sensuous detail. While reading the title story (Holy Days of Obligation), I held my breath.” – Frances Itani
“Zettell writes with skill and understated grace, depicting the many surprises, illuminations and losses of daily life.” – Virginia Beaton, Chronicle Herald
“As is the case with great art, [her stories] touch the reader unexpectedly, reaching toward the deep centre of the human heart.” – Alistair MacLeod

Author of the “compelling” novel The Checkout Girl, two collections of award winning short stories, and with works included in anthologies and collections, Susan Zettell’s novel-in-progress is titled The Lazarus Maple. Born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, and after having lived in Cambridge, Vancouver, Halifax, Ottawa and Whitehorse, Susan and her husband Andy Watt have made their home along the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

AWARDS

Shortlisted for the Upper Canada Bewing Company Writers’ Craft Award, 2000; ‘Night Watch’

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Shortlisted for the City of Ottawa Book Award (Fiction), 2000; ‘Night Watch’

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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