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Thomas Raddall
Atlantic Fiction Award

One prize ($30,000) is awarded each year for a novel or a book of short fiction that was written by a full-time resident of Atlantic Canada and published and/or distributed for the first time in Canada in the year prior to the submission deadline. Additional finalists each receive $500.

The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award was established in 1991 with an endowment by Thomas Head Raddall himself, and it continues with ongoing support from the Raddall family. The award honours the work of fiction writers in the Atlantic region and, as its original benefactor envisioned, provides “the gift of time and peace of mind” so essential to the creation of new work.

Inaugurated as a $5000 prize, the award has grown steadily under the Raddall family’s stewardship. Beginning in 2022, the prize amount was raised from $25,000 to $30,000.

A writer may win the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award a maximum of three times. Young adult (YA) titles are ineligible for this award and should be submitted to the Ann Connor Brimer Award.

For more about this award, read “The Gift of Time” in Atlantic Books, a history of the Raddall Award by Alexander MacLeod.

Click covers for more information.

Carol Bruneau
Threshold: Stories
(Nimbus Publishing)

Charlene Carr
We Rip the World Apart
(HarperCollins Canada)

David Huebert
Oil People
(McClelland & Stewart)

Susie Taylor
Vigil
(Breakwater Books)

Mark Blagrave
Felt
(Cormorant Books)

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

Michelle Porter
A Grandmother Begins the Story
(Viking Canada)

Finalist

Violet Browne
This is the House That Luke Built
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Charlene Carr
Hold My Girl
(HarperCollins)

Finalist

Amanda Peters
The Berry Pickers
(HarperCollins)

Finalist

William Ping
Hollow Bamboo
(HarperCollins)

2023

Winner

K.R. Byggdin
Wonder World
(Enfield & Wizenty)

Finalist

Bobbi French
The Good Women of Safe Harbour
(HarperCollins)

Finalist

Lisa Moore
This is How We Love
(House of Anansi)

2022

Winner

Michelle Butler Hallett
Constant Nobody
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

David Huebert
Chemical Valley
(Biblioasis)

Finalist

Sharon Robart-Johnson
Jude and Diana
(Fernwood Publishing)

2021

Winner

Anne Simpson
Speechless
(Freehand Books)

Finalist

Bridget Canning
Some People’s Children
(Breakwater Books)

Finalist

Morgan Murray
Dirty Birds
(Breakwater Books)

2020

Winner

Michael Crummey
The Innocents
(Doubleday Canada)

Finalist

Jaime Burnet
Crocuses Hatch from Snow
(Vagrant Press)

Finalist

Shandi Mitchell
The Waiting Hours
(Viking Canada)

2019

Winner

Lisa Moore
Something for Everyone: Stories
(House of Anansi Press)

Finalist

Sharon Bala
The Boat People
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist

Elisabeth de Mariaffi
Hysteria
(HarperCollins)

2018

Winner

Oisin Curran
Blood Fable
(Bookhug Press)

Finalist

Carol Bruneau
A Bird on Every Tree: Stories
(Vagrant Press)

Finalist

Sarah Faber
All is Beauty Now
(McClelland & Stewart)

2017

Winner

Donna Morrissey
The Fortunate Brother
(Viking)

Finalist

Darren Greer
Advocate
(Cormorant Books)

Finalist

Ami McKay
The Witches of New York
(Knopf)

2016

Winner

R.W. Gray
Entropic: Stories
(NeWest Press)

Finalist

Mark Anthony Jarman
Knife Party at the Hotel Europa
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Elisabeth de Mariaffi
The Devil You Know
(HarperCollins)

2015

Winner

Darren Greer
Just Beneath My Skin
(Cormorant Books)

Finalist

David Adams Richards
Crimes Against My Brother
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Michael Crummey
Sweetland
(Doubleday)

2014

Winner

William Kowalski
The Hundred Hearts
(Dundurn Press)

Finalist

Shashi Bhat
The Family Took Shape
(Cormorant Books)

Finalist

Ed Kavanagh
Strays: Stories
(Killick Press)

2013

Winner

Russell Wangersky
Whirl Away: Stories
(Thomas Allen Publishers)

Finalist

Keir Lowther
Dirty Bird
(Tightrope Books)

Finalist

Donna Morrissey
The Deception of Livvy Higgs
(Viking)

2012

Winner

David Adams Richards
Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Valerie Compton
Tide Road
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Heather Jessup
The Lightning Field
(Gaspereau Press)

2011

Winner

Kathleen Winter
Annabel
(House of Anansi Press)

Finalist

Alexander MacLeod
Light Lifting: Stories
(Biblioasis)

Finalist

Beth Powning
The Sea Captain’s Wife
(Random House)

2010

Winner

Shandi Mitchell
Under This Unbroken Sky
(Penguin)

Finalist

Michael Crummey
Galore
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Linden MacIntyre
The Bishop’s Man
(Random House)

2009

Winner

Douglas Arthur Brown
Quintet
(Key Porter Books)

Finalist

Ian Colford
Evidence
(Porcupine’s Quill)

Finalist

Sara Tilley
Skin Room
(Pedlar Press)

2008

Winner

Don Hannah
Ragged Islands
(Knopf)

Finalist

David Adams Richards
The Lost Highway
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Bernice Morgan
Cloud of Bone
(Knopf)

2007

Winner

Linda Little
Scotch River
(Penguin)

Finalist

Wayne Johnston
The Custodian of Paradise
(Knopf)

Finalist

Ami McKay
The Birth House
(Knopf)

2006

Winner

Donna Morrissey
Sylvanus Now
(Penguin)

Finalist

George Elliott Clarke
George & Rue
(HarperCollins)

Finalist

Lisa Moore
Alligator
(House of Anansi)

2005

Winner

Edward Riche
The Nine Planets
(Viking)

Finalist

Kelly Cooper
Eyehill
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Michael Winter
The Big Why
(House of Anansi)

2004

Winner

Kenneth J. Harvey
The Town That Forgot How to Breathe
(Raincoast Books)

Finalist

David Adams Richards
River of the Brokenhearted
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Leo McKay, Jr.
Twenty-Six
(McClelland & Stewart)

2003

Winner

Donna Morrissey
Downhill Chance
(Penguin)

Finalist

Christy Ann Conlin
Heave
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Sue Goyette
Lures
(HarperCollins)

2002

Winner

Michael Crummey
River Thieves
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Linda Little
Strong Hollow
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Anne Simpson
Canterbury Beach
(Penguin)

2001

Winner

Carol Bruneau
Purple for Sky
(Cormorant Books)

published in USA as A Purple Thread for Sky
(Carroll & Graff)

Finalist

David Adams Richards
Mercy Among the Children
(Doubleday)

Finalist

Robert Finley
The Accidental Indies
(McGill-Queen's University Press)

2000

Winner

Alistair MacLeod
No Great Mischief
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist

Carmelita McGrath
Stranger Things Have Happened
(Creative Book Publishing)

Finalist

Donna Morrissey
Kit's Law
(Penguin)

1999

Winner

Wayne Johnston
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
(Knopf)

Finalist

David Adams Richards
The Bay of Love and Sorrows
(McClelland & Stewart)

Finalist

Lynn Coady
Strange Heaven
(Goose Lane Editions)

Finalist

Don Hannah
The Wise and Foolish Virgins
(Knopf)

Prior to 1999, finalists for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award were not publicly announced.

1998

Winner

Shree Ghatage
Awake when all the world is asleep
(House of Anansi)

1997

Winner

Alfred Silver
Acadia
(Ballantine Books)

1996

Winner

M. T. Dohaney
A Marriage of Masks
(Ragweed Press)

1995

Winner

Bernice Morgan
Waiting for Time
(Breakwater Books)

1994

Winner

David Adams Richards
For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down
(McClelland & Stewart)

1993

Winner

John Steffler
The Afterlife of George Cartwright
(McClelland & Stewart)

1992

Winner

Herb Curtis
The Last Tasmanian
(Goose Lane Editions)

1991

Winner

Wayne Johnston
The Divine Ryans
(McClelland & Stewart)

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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