Writers' Council

Writers’ Council membership is a special, permanent designation for WFNS members who have produced a professional body of work.

Writers’ Council members are eligible for numerous competitively compensated opportunities through WFNS programs.

If your General Membership expires, you will retain your Writers’ Council membership for life and will be eligible for all Writers’ Council benefits immediately upon renewing your General Membership.

Compensation rates are noted in parentheses.

To be considered for Writers’ Council designation, the applying writer must meet the following criteria.

  • You must be a current General Member of WFNS. General Membership is open to anyone with an interest in creative writing. You may check the status of your General Membership at any time in the “Memberships” tab of your Account page.
  • You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
  • You must be 19 years of age or older.
  • You must be a full-time resident of Nova Scotia or have a significant connection to Nova Scotia (such as ongoing part-time residency or past full-time residency).
  • You must have produced a professional body of work that matches at least one application stream below.

Stream 1

Writer with one or more book-length literary projects published through traditional publishing agreements

Supporting documentation: A link to your book’s listing on your publisher’s website

Under a traditional publishing agreement, a publisher covers all costs (and, therefore, risks) upfront, with money flowing from the publisher to the author and not the other way around. Specifically, the publisher engages in editorial selection (meaning any submitted manuscript may be declined) and in the development and production of a selected manuscript; enters into a contract with a selected manuscript’s author(s) and other copyright holders; and provides marketing, sales, and distribution of books published under the publisher’s imprint. Furthermore, under a traditional publishing agreement, the author is not an employee or owner of the publishing company.

Stream 2

Writer with numerous literary works published in periodicals run by third-party editorial boards or committees

Supporting documentation: A list of eligible periodical publications that total 30,000 words; for each work, note the word count and provide a link to the work as published (if online) or a scan of the work as published (if in-print only)

Contact our office if you are unsure whether a periodical you have been published in counts towards your total.

Stream 3

Writer (including those with partner-, hybrid-, and self-published book-length literary projects) with a full professional membership in another literary writers’ organization whose membership is granted only after an application process

Supporting documentation: Confirmation from the organization that you are a full professional member (not merely an associate- or friend-level member) and that your membership is current, such as a link to your profile on the association’s website or a confirmation email from the organization sent directly to director@writers.ns.ca

Eligible organizations include, but are not limited to, The Writers’ Union of Canada (which accepts writers who have self-published or published through a partner or hybrid press), the League of Canadian Poets (Full membership), the Professional Writers’ Association of Canada (Professional designation), Canadian Authors’ Association (Professional designation), and CANSCAIP (Member).

Contact director@writers.ns.ca if you are unsure whether your professional designation counts or if you are a playwright, a screenwriter, or another type of writer not covered under the above.

Stream 4

Spoken word artist or storyteller with a full body of work that demonstrates a professional commitment and proficiency in their field, as determined by the Membership Committee

Supporting documentation: An outline of your performance history and involvement with the spoken word or storytelling community and links to audio tracks or videos that the Membership Committee can listen to or view online

A full body of spoken word or storytelling work may include

  • a recorded studio album;
  • participation on a spoken word team, including touring and competing for at least two years;
  • three featured performance sets of at least 15 minutes each;
  • print materials, including chapbooks, anthology contributions, publications in literary magazines, etc.; and/or
  • commitment to the community through teaching or creating performance spaces for other artists.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis (that is, at any time) through the form at the bottom of this page.

Received applications are reviewed by our Membership Committee, which recommends applicants who have met requirements for formal approval at a meeting of our Board of Directors. The review and approval process usually takes from one to six weeks; however, applications submitted in July or August are not considered until September.

Upon notification of your application’s approval, you will be eligible to create a publicly accessible Writers’ Council profile on the WFNS website. You may then complete or update your Writers’ Council profile at any time in the “Writers’ Council / WITS profiles” tab of your Account page

Application form

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Simultaneous Submissions

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) administers some programs (and special projects) that involve print and/or digital publication of ‘selected’ or ‘winning’ entries. In most cases, writing submitted to these programs and projects must not be previously published and must not be simultaneously under consideration for publication by another organization. Why? Because our assessment and selection processes depends on all submitted writing being available for first publication. If writing selected for publication by WFNS has already been published or is published by another organization firstcopyright issues will likely make it impossible for WFNS to (re-)publish that writing.

When simultaneous submissions to a WFNS program are not permitted, it means the following:

  • You may not submit writing that has been accepted for future publication by another organization.
  • You may not submit writing that is currently being considered for publication by another organization—or for another prize that includes publication.
  • The writing submitted to WFNS may not be submitted for publication to another organization until the WFNS program results are communicated. Results will be communicated directly to you by email and often also through the public announcement of a shortlist or list of winners. Once your writing is no longer being considered for the WFNS program, you are free to submit it elsewhere.
    • If you wish to submit your entry elsewhere before WFNS program results have been announced, you must first contact WFNS to withdraw your entry. Any entry fee cannot be refunded.

Prohibitions on simultaneous submission do not apply to multiple WFNS programs. You are always permitted to submit the same unpublished writing to multiple WFNS programs (and special projects) at the same time, such as the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program, the Emerging Writers Prizes, the Jampolis Cottage Residency Program, the Message on a Bottle contest, the Nova Writes Competition, and any WFNS projects involving one-time or recurring special publications.

Recommended Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) recommends that participants in any given workshop 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. The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the following definitions used by WFNS.

  • 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, and writing for children and young adults) 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.

For “intensive” and “masterclass” creative writing 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