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Booktoberfest

Booktoberfest is an annual literary fair that celebrates Nova Scotian authors & publishers—with a focus on books published over the past year—with sales, signings, and free creative writing workshops.

For questions about this program, contact program lead Andy Verboom at communications@writers.ns.ca

Vendor Application
& Guide
Past
Booktoberfests

Partner

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia is grateful to Halifax Public Libraries for their annual partnership in realizing Booktoberfest.

The third annual Booktoberfest will celebrate NS-authored and -published books at Halifax Central Library on Saturday, October 5 (1pm – 5pm). All aspects of the event are free, including attendance, participation in creative writing workshops, and vendor registration (which is now closed).

Information for confirmed vendors is available in the tab “Vendor Guide,” found above.

BOOKTOBERFEST
PROGRAMME
(updated Oct 2)

Workshops

All workshops are free, but pre-registered seats have been filled and all waitlists are now closed.

On October 5, we will welcome up to 5 additional walk-in participants to each workshop on a first-come-first-served basis. Stop by the BMO Community Room (2nd floor, Halifax Central Library) to see if space is available!

Click a workshop title below for details.

PATCH / WORD / ART:
Writing Your Memoir Piece by Piece
HOOK THOSE READERS:
Learn to Captivate so They Binge Read Your Book
MAGIC FOR WRITERS: Giving (& Receiving) Powerful Feedback in Writing Groups
THE WRITE ANGLE:
Finding Your Story's Best POV

Attending Publishers

updated Oct 1

Askance Publishing

HARP The People’s Press

Moose House Publications

OC  Publishing

Pottersfield Press

Riddle Fence Publishing

Somewhat Grumpy Press

Spot of Poetry

Visual Arts News

Attending Authors

updated Oct 1

Joanne Abrahams
Oluwatoyin Aguda
Leslie Allen
Katie Arthur
Jodi Asbell-Clarke
Nino Balistreri
N.L. Blandford
Claudette Bouman
Thomas Bouman
Brittni Brinn
Carol Bruneau
Tina Capalbo
Laura Churchill Duke
Carol Ann Cole
R.F. Cook
Tim R Covell
Marie-Eve Dawood
Jane Doucet
Barbara Emodi
Jan Fancy Hull
Deanna Foster
Cathryn Fox
John Graham-Pole
Sheila Graham-Smith
Lindsey Harrington
Michelle Hébert
Steven Holloway
Martine Jacquot
Alan Kemister (Phil Yeats)
Ketan Kulkarni
Reeva Kulkarni
Shawn Lawlor
Lubov Leonova
Corinne Lewandowski
Nancy MacNairn
Allison Maher
Vanessa McKiel
Barbara Ann Miller
donalee Moulton
Christopher Murphy
Lorri Neilsen Glenn
Nicole Northwood
Berdene Owen
Cat Rector
RC Shaw
Lana Shupe
Mark Shupe
Anne M. Smith-Nochasak
Tricia Snell
Heidi Tattrie Rushton
Brenda J Thompson
Shelley Thompson
Andy Tolson
Jody Trainor
Catherine Walker
Yvette Ward MacDonald
Dawn Web
Kimberley Williamson
John Wonnacott

1113 Marginal Road

Halifax, NS B3H 4P7

902 423 8116

contact@writers.ns.ca

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Operational Investors

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia is based in Kjipuktuk, in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship,” which Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1725. The treaties do not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognize Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) title and establish the rules for an ongoing relationship between nations.

© Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, 2025. All rights reserved.

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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 first, copyright 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