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Evelyn Richardson
Non-Fiction Award

One prize ($2,000) is awarded each year for a book of creative non-fiction that was written by a full-time resident of Nova Scotia and published or distributed for the first time in Canada in the year prior to the submission deadline. Creative nonfiction includes narrative nonfiction, collected essays, biography, memoir, and long-form academic publication that offers a complex and reflective narrative about original research. Additional finalists each receive $250.

The Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award was established in 1977 to honour the work of nonfiction writers in Nova Scotia. It is named for Evelyn Richardson (1902 – 1976), who won the 1945 Governor General’s Non-Fiction Award for We Keep A Light, her memoir of life in a family of lighthouse keepers on Bon Portage Island, Shelburne County.

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Bartin Bauman
Hell of a Ride: Chasing Home and Survival on a Bicycle Ride Across Canada
(Pottersfield Press)

Andrea Currie
Finding Otipemisiwak: The People Who Own Themselves
(Arsenal Pulp Press)

Dean Jobb
A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue
(HarperCollins Canada)

2024 Winner

Karen Pinchin
Kings of Their Own Ocean: Tuna, Obsession, and the Future of Our Seas
(Knopf Canada)

2024 Finalists

Sherri Aikenhead
Mommy Don’t: From Mother to Murderer: The True Story of Penny and Karissa Boudreau
(Nimbus Publishing)

Kelly Thompson
Still, I Cannot Save You: A Memoir of Sisterhood, Love, and Letting Go
(McClelland & Stewart)

2024

Winner

Karen Pinchin
Kings of Their Own Ocean: Tuna, Obsession, and the Future of Our Seas
(Knopf Canada)

Finalist

Sherri Aikenhead
Mommy Don’t: From Mother to Murderer: The True Story of Penny and Karissa Boudreau
(Nimbus Publishing)

Finalist

Kelly Thompson
Still, I Cannot Save You: A Memoir of Sisterhood, Love, and Letting Go
(McClelland & Stewart)

2023

Winner

El Jones
Abolitionist Intimacies
(Fernwood Publishing)

Finalist

Kate Beaton
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
(Drawn & Quarterly)

Finalist

Toufah Jallow with Kim Pittaway
Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement
(Penguin Random House)

2022

Winner

Stephen Kimber
Alexa! Changing the Face of Canadian Politics
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Susan MacLeod
Dying for Attention: A Graphic Memoir of Nursing Home Care
(Conundrum Press)

Finalist

Donna Morrissey
Pluck: A Memoir of a Newfoundland Childhood and the Raucous, Terrible, Amazing Journey to Becoming a Novelist
(Penguin Random House Canada)

2021

Winner

Tyler LeBlanc
Acadian Driftwood: One Family and the Great Expulsion
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Silver Donald Cameron
Blood in the Water: A True Story of Revenge in the Maritimes
(Viking Canada)

Finalist

Rebecca Rose
Before the Parade: A History of Halifax’s Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Communities, 1972 - 1984
(Nimbus Publishing)

2020

Winner

Amy McKay
Daughter of Family G: A Memoir of Cancer Genes, Love and Fate
(Knopf Canada)

Finalist

The Honourable Dr. Mayann Francis
Mayann Francis: An Honourable Life
(Nimbus Publishing)

Finalist

Marq de Villiers
Hell and Damnation: A Sinner’s Guide to Eternal Torment
(University of Regina Press)

2019

Winner

Kate Inglis
Notes for the Everlost: A Field Guide to Grief
(Shambhala Publications)

Finalist

Lezlie Lowe
No Place To Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs
(Coach House Books)

Finalist

Lorri Neilsen Glenn
Following the River: Traces of Red River Women
(Wolsak & Wynn)

2018

Winner

John DeMont
The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist

Joan Baxter
The Mill: Fifty Years of Pulp and Protest
(Pottersfield Press)

Finalist

Pauline Dakin
Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood
(Viking)

2017

Winner

Erin Wunker
Notes from a Feminist Killjoy: Essays on everyday life
(Bookhug Press)

Finalist

Burnley “Rocky” Jones and James W. St. G. Walker
Burnley “Rocky” Jones: Revolutionary
(Roseway Publishing)

Finalist

Jon Tattrie
Redemption Songs: How Bob Marley's Nova Scotia Song Lights The Way Past Racism
(Pottersfield Press)

2016

Winner

Gary L. Saunders
My Life with Trees
(Gaspereau Press)

Finalist

Marq de Villiers
Back to the Well: Rethinking the Future of Water
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Dean Jobb
Empire of Deception: From Chicago to Nova Scotia: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation
(HarperCollins)

2015

Winner

Kaleigh Trace
Hot, Wet, & Shaking: How I Learned to Talk About Sex
(Invisible Publishing)

Finalist

Heather Sparling
Reeling Roosters & Dancing Ducks: Celtic Mouth Music
(Cape Breton University Press)

Finalist

Graham Steele
What I Learned About Politics: Inside the Rise and Collapse of Nova Scotia's NDP Government
(Nimbus Publishing)

2014

Winner

Stephen Kimber
What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five
(Fernwood Publishing)

Finalist

John DeMont
A Good Day’s Work: In Pursuit of a Disappearing Canada
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Richard Foot
Driven: How the Bathurst Tragedy Ignited a Crusade for Change
(Goose Lane Editions)

2013

Winner

Steven Laffoley
Shadowboxing: the rise and fall of George Dixon
(Pottersfield Press)

Finalist

Jerry Lockett
The Discovery of Weather: Stephen Saxby, the tumultuous birth of weather forecasting, and Saxby’s Gale of 1869
(Formac)

Finalist

Herb MacDonald
Cape Breton Railways: An Illustrated History
(Cape Breton University Press)

2012

Winner

Harry Thurston
The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History
(Greystone Books & The David Suzuki Foundation)

Finalist

Chris Benjamin
Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada
(Nimbus Publishing)

Finalist

Ray MacLeod
Hope for Wildlife: True Stories of Animal Rescue
(Nimbus Publishing)

2011

Winner

Laura Penny
More Money Than Brains: Why Schools Suck, College is Crap & Idiots Think They're Right
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist

J. A. Wainwright
Blazing Figures: A Life of Robert Markle
(Wilfred Laurier University Press)

Finalist

Christopher A. Walsh
Under the Electric Sky: The Legacy of the Bill Lynch Shows
(Pottersfield Press)

2010

Winner

John DeMont
Coal Black Heart: The Story of Coal and the Lives it Ruled
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Jason I. Brown
Our Days Are Numbered: How Mathematics Orders Our Lives
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist

Harry Bruce
Page Fright: Foibles and Fetishes of Famous Writers
(McClelland & Stewart)

2009

Winner

William B. Naftel
Halifax at War: Searchlights, Squadrons and Submarines, 1939 - 1945
(Formac)

Finalist

Marq de Villiers
Dangerous World: Natural Disasters, Manmade Catastrophes, and the Future of Human Survival
(Viking)

Finalist

Stephen Kimber
Loyalists & Layabouts: The Rapid Rise and Faster Fall of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 1783 - 1792
(Doubleday)

2008

Winner

Marq de Villiers
The Witch in the Wind: The True Story of the Legendary Bluenose
(Thomas Allen Publishers)

Finalist

Stewart Donovan
The Forgotten World of R.J. MacSween: A Life
(Cape Breton University Press)

Finalist

Steven Edwin Laffoley
Hunting Halifax: In Search of History, Mystery and Murder
(Pottersfield Press)

2007

Winner

Linden MacIntyre
Causeway: A Passage from Innocence
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist

Natalie MacLean
Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Marq de Villiers
Windswept: The Story of Wind and Weather
(McClelland & Stewart)

2006

Winner

Linda Johns
Birds of a Feather: Tales of a Wild Bird Haven
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Dean Jobb
The Acadians: A People’s Story of Exile and Triumph
(John Wiley & Sons)

Finalist

Laura M. Mac Donald
Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion, 1917
(HarperCollins)

2005

Winner

Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle
A Dune Adrift: The Strange Origins and Curious History of Sable Island
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist

David B. Flemming
Explosion in Halifax Harbour: The Illustrated Account of a Disaster that Shook the World
(Formac)

Finalist

Roger Marsters
Bold Privateers: Terror, Plunder and Profit on Canada’s Atlantic Coast
(Formac)

2004

Winner

Harry Thurston
Island of the Blessed: The Secrets of Egypt's Everlasting Oasis
(Doubelday)

Finalist

Billy Budge
Memoirs of a Lightkeeper’s Son: Life on St. Paul Island
(Pottersfield Press)

Finalist

Heather Laskey
Night Voices: Heard in the Shadow of Hitler and Stalin
(McGill-Queen’s University Press)

2003

Winner

Stephen Kimber
Sailors, Slackers and Blind Pigs: Halifax at War
(Doubelday)

Finalist

Dan Falk
Universe on a T-Shirt: The Quest for a Theory of Everything
(Viking)

Finalist

Michael Harris
Con Game: The Truth About Canada's Prisons
(McClelland & Stewart)

2002

Winner

Kent Thompson
Getting Out of Town by Book and Bike
(Gaspereau Press)

Finalist

Dean Beeby
Deadly Frontiers: Disaster and Rescue on Canada’s Atlantic Seaboard
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Gary L. Saunder
Discover Nova Scotia: The Ultimate Nature Guide
(Nimbus Publishing & Nova Scotia Museum)

2001

Winner

Joan Baxter
A Serious Pair of Shoes: An African Journal
(Pottersfield Press)

Finalist

Andria Hill-Lehr
Mona Parsons: From privilege to prison, from Nova Scotia to Nazi Europe
(Nimbus Publishing)

Finalist

Harold Horwood
Among the Lions: A Lamb in the Literary Jungle
(Creative Book Publishing)

2000

Winner

Robin Metcalfe
Studio Rally: Art and Craft of Nova Scotia
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Linda Johns
For the Birds: Nature Notes from a Woodland Studio
(MacLellan & Stewart)

Finalist

Marq de Villiers
Water: Why You Should Worry
(Stoddart)

1999

Winner

Silver Donald Cameron
The Living Beach: Life, Death and Politics where the Land Meets the Sea
(Macmillan)

Finalist

Michael Harris
Lament for an Ocean: The Collapse of the Atlantic Cod Fishery: A True Crime Story
(MacLellan & Stewart)

Finalist

Ann Spencer
Alone at Sea: The Adventures of Joshua Slocum
(Doubleday)

Prior to 1999, finalists for the Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award were not publicly announced.

1998

Harry Bruce
An Illustrated History of Nova Scotia
(Nimbus Publishing)

1997

Harry Thurston
The Nature of Shorebirds: Nomads of the Wetlands
(Greystone Books)

1996

Simone Poirier-Bures
That Shining Place
(Oberon Press)

1995

Elizabeth Pacey
Landmarks: Historic Buildings of Nova Scotia
(Nimbus Publishing)

1994

Peter Brock
Variations on a Planet
(Pottersfield Press)

1993

Sally Ross and Alphonse Deveau
The Acadians of Nova Scotia: Past and Present
(Nimbus Publishing)

1992

Robert Pope
Illness & Healing: Images of Cancer
(Lancelot Press)

1991

Harry Thurston
Tidal Life: A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy
(Camden House)

1990

Judith Fingard
The Dark Side of Life in Victorian Halifax
(Pottersfield Press)

1989

Dean Jobb
Shades of Justice: Seven Nova Scotia Murder Cases
(Nimbus Publishing)

1988

Harold Horwood
Dancing on the Shore: A Celebration of Life at Annapolis Basin
(McClelland & Stewart)

1987

Tony Foster
Meeting of Generals
(Methuen Publishing)

1986

P. B. Waite
The Man from Halifax: Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister
(University of Toronto Press)

1985

Lilias M. Toward
Mabel Bell: Alexander's Silent Partner
(Methuen Publishing)

1984

Brian C. Cuthbertson
The Loyalist Governor: Biography of Sir John Wentworth
(Petheric Press)

1983

J. Murray Beck
Joseph Howe: Volume 1, Conservative Reformer, 1804-1848
(McGill-Queen's University Press)

1982

Bruce Armstrong
Sable Island: Nova Scotia's Mysterious Island of Sand
(Doubelday)

1981

Kay Hill
Joe Howe: The Man Who Was Nova Scotia
(McClelland & Stewart)

1980

Joan and Lewis Payzant
Like a Weaver's Shuttle: A History of the Halifax-Dartmouth Ferries
(Nimbus Publishing)

1979

Alden Nowlan
Double Exposure
(Brunswick)

1978

Harry Bruce
Lifeline: The Story of the Atlantic Ferries and Coastal Boats
(Macmillan)

Evelyn Richardson was born Evelyn May Fox in 1902. Her first island home was Emerald Isle, also known as Stoddart Island, on the southern coast of Nova Scotia. She attended high school at Halifax Academy and later studied at Dalhousie University, earning a BA and becoming a teacher. In 1926, she married Morrill Richardson.

In her award-winning memoir, We Keep a Light she describes how she and her husband bought tiny Bon Portage Island and built a happy life there for themselves and their three children. Although their main responsibility was tending the lighthouse, they kept a garden and raised sheep and a few cows.

This memoir is known for its gentle humour, colourful stories and interesting personalities. According to The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada, We Keep a Light is “an unsentimental, optimistic memoir of a simple lifestyle that suited the post-war mood and anticipated 1960s environmentalism.”

The Richardsons lived as lightkeepers on Bon Portage Island for 35 years. When they retired in 1964, the light was mechanized and the island acquired by Acadia University for its ecology and wildlife management programs.

Evelyn Richardson wrote several other books, including My Other Islands (1960)—“Mum’s best book,” says daughter Elizabeth Smith—and the historical novel Desired Haven (1953), set during the heyday of the Banks fishery. Where My Roots Go Deep, a collection of essays demonstrating her interest in local history, was published by Nimbus in 1996.

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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