Coffee Chats advisor

Anne Simpson

Anne Simpson has been a writer-in-residence at the University of British Columbia, the Saskatoon Public Library, the Medical Humanities Program at Dalhousie University, and the University of New Brunswick, among others. She has also been a faculty member at the Banff Centre.

She writes novels, poetry, and essays. Four of her ten books have been Globe & Mail Best Books. Her short fiction has been awarded the Journey Prize, while her third novel, Speechless, won the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Her second poetry collection, Loop, was awarded the Griffin Poetry Prize. She has also written two books of essays. The Marram Grass: Poetry and Otherness explores poetry, art, and empathy, while Experiments in Distant Influence: Notes and Poems looks at friendship, courage, and community.

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J. P. Smith

Despite school years in Halifax (Dalhousie ’63) and working years in Montreal (Dawson College) Ray Smith has always considered Mabou, Cape Breton, home. Retired from teaching in 2007, he now lives in Mabou in the house built by his grandfather – who also built as his store the building which is now The Red Shoe Pub. He has two exemplary sons, Nicholas and Alexander.

“A brilliant stylist” (Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature), he nonetheless has no Smith style: each of his seven books is unique. Somewhat over half the work is comic, often hilariously so. Although usually set in Canada with Canadian characters, the books reflect his extensive travel and international perspective. Important sections of his work are set in Iceland, Venice, Edinburgh, Paris, Zurich, and Germany, and other languages appear often. A dramatic performer, Smith has done over 250 readings of his work in North America and in a dozen European countries. Many of the stories and chapters have been published separately in journals and anthologies. Smith has also published criticism, reviews, travel pieces, etc, in newspapers, magazines, journals, and on radio in Canada and Europe. He was writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta (1986-87) and Canada-Scotland Writing Fellow in Edinburgh (1987-88). A Night at the Opera won the Hugh MacLennan Best Fiction Award in 1992. Charles Foran recently sent Century to the prime minister as number 78 on Yann Martel’s project, What is Stephen Harper Reading?

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Lorri Neilsen Glenn

Lorri Neilsen Glenn is the author and editor of fourteen books of poetry, creative nonfiction and scholarly work. Her latest books include The Old Moon in Her Arms: Women I Have Known and Been (Nimbus, 2024), a hybrid memoir about age and identity, and an updated edition of Threading Light: Explorations in Loss and Poetry (Nimbus, 2024, first published in 2011), essays on grief.

Following the River: Traces of Red River Women, a mixed-genre historical memoir published late in 2017 (Wolsak and Wynn) is now in its third printing. The book explores Lorri’s Métis and Cree grandmothers’ lives and was short-listed for the Evelyn Richardson Nonfiction award and won The Miramichi Reader’s award for nonfiction.

Untying the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s (Guernica Editions, 2013) explores the lives of 1950s mothers (now in its third printing). Other works include Lost Gospels (Brick Books, 2010), Combustion (Brick Books, 2007), Saved String (Rubicon Press, 2007), All the Perfect Disguises (Broken Jaw Press, 2003), and several academic titles. With Carsten Knox, Lorri edited Salt Lines, a collection of writers’ wisdom from Nova Scotian authors.

Since 2013, Lorri has served as a mentor in The University of King’s College MFA program in creative nonfiction and is Professor Emerita at Mount Saint Vincent University.

Workshops: Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, Great Blue Heron workshop, St. Peter’s Writing Program, Los Parronales Writers’ Retreat, Creative Nonfiction Collective, MSVU, The University of Auckland, Edith Cowan, James Cook, Queensland, and Murdoch Universities, among other organizations and locations.

Lorri’s workshops on memoir/life writing grief and loss have been held across Canada, including Northern Canada, as well as in Ireland, Greece, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand. She has worked with writers in Indigenous communities, government and social services, educators, engineers, lawyers, women’s groups, youth groups, and many other communities. Lorri works as a developmental editor for others’ memoir, creative nonfiction and poetry.

As Halifax’s first Métis Poet Laureate (2005-2009), Lorri worked with new Canadians, seniors, and launched the spoken word youth group Wordfishing. She has worked extensively with writers who are new Canadians. In 2023, Lorri was awarded Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal for her work in the writing community. Lorri’s poetry has been adapted several times for libretti and was most recently performed in the City of Song celebration for Winnipeg’s 150th anniversary. Lorri was burn in Winnipeg, raised on the prairies and moved to Nova Scotia in 1983.

A frequent reader/juror/judge for national and regional writing awards, Lorri was President of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (2020-21) and has served four terms on its board over the years. She is a member of the Writers’ Union of Canada, the League of Canadian Poets, and the Creative Nonfiction Collective. Lorri’s poetry and creative nonfiction appear in several anthologies including Bad Artist, Sharp Notions, Good Mom on Paper, Sweetwater, Love me True, among others.

Reviews of The Old Moon in Her Arms can be found here:

https://freefallmagazine.ca/review-of-lorri-neilsen-glenns-the-old-moon-in-her-arms/https://freefallmagazine.ca/review-of-lorri-neilsen-glenns-the-old-moon-in-her-arms/

https://miramichireader.ca/2024/04/the-old-moon-in-her-arms-by-lorri-neilsen-glenn/

“A gift of storytelling magic” — Shelagh Rogers

Threading Light:

“Glenn explores questions about spirituality and place – places including the Prairies, where she was raised, and the East Coast, where she now works – in these stunning poems that show us how to pay attention and find the wonder in song and nature.” – Prairie Books Now

“lyricism at its most brilliant” – The Malahat Review

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Sandra Phinney

Sandra Phinney is a professional writer and photographer who lives on the edge of the Tusket River in Southwest Nova Scotia. She’s had a few former lives including teaching, social work and farming. Now, instead of driving a tractor and growing vegetables, Sandra wields a camera and harvests stories.

Her articles have appeared in over 70 publications and many online line magazines. She’s also contributed to several travel guides including National Geographic’s Guide to Parks Canada. Over the years, her work has garnered several writing and photography awards (which help to keep her humble.) Part of her portfolio spills into the corporate world where she does everything from writing scripts for video, to advertorials, brochures, newsletters, and company profiles.

In the book writing realm, Sandra’s penned four non-fiction books: Risk Takers and Innovators—Great Canadian Business Ventures since 1950; Pierre Elliott Trudeau: The Prankster Who Never Flinched; Maud Lewis and the “Maudified” House Project; and Waking Up In My Own Backyard~Explorations in Southwest Nova Scotia. She’s currently working on two more non-fiction books.

To satisfy her craving to teach, Sandra gives writing workshops on various topics including narrative, writing memoir, how to start a freelance business and travel writing. In her spare time she does Tai Chi and paddles in the wilderness.

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Sherry D. Ramsey

Sherry D. Ramsey writes science fiction and fantasy for both adults and young adults, and is one of the founding editors of Cape Breton’s Third Person Press. She has published over thirty short stories nationally and internationally, and her award-winning debut novel, One’s Aspect to the Sun, launched in 2013 from Edmonton’s Tyche Books. The sequels, Dark Beneath the Moon and Beyond the Sentinel Stars (Tyche Books) followed in 2015 and 2017, and the fourth book in the Nearspace series, A Veiled and Distant Sky, released in March of 2022. She has also published the YA fantasy The Seventh Crow (Dreaming Robot Press, 2015), and the middle grade science fiction adventure, Planet Fleep (2018). Some of her short stories are collected in To Unimagined Shores (2011) and The Cache and Other Stories (2017). A collection of stories for young readers, Beacon and Other Stories, came out in 2019. She’s currently adding more titles to her urban fantasy Olympia Investigations series and working on a comic fantasy novel, as well as teaching English courses as a sessional instructor at Cape Breton University.

Sherry has co-edited six anthologies of regional short fiction with Third Person Press and conducted numerous writing workshops in person and online. A member of the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia Writer’s Council, Sherry is also a past Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and Web Administrator of SF Canada. She is an active participant with Writers In The Schools and loves talking to students about writing and creativity. You can visit Sherry online, read her blog, follow her on Twitter and Instagram @sdramsey, and find some free fiction and sample chapters on her website.

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Philip Moscovitch

I am a freelance writer, editor, and audio producer with a passion for tellng stories.

My book Adventures in Bubbles and Brine (Formac, 2019) explores Nova Scotia fermentation traditions (everything from craft beer to sauerkraut) and the people reviving and reinventing them. Mollie Katzen, author of The Moosewood Cookbook and The Heart of the Plate, says it is a “beautifully written book – which is at once a travel memoir, a weave of lore, histories, and personal tales, and an inspiring recipe collection.” Author and fermentation revivalist Sandor Katz (The Art of Fermentation) calls it “a beautiful window into the culture of fermentation in Nova Scotia! Philip Moscovitch introduces us to old timers carrying on traditions, and to leaders of the province’s contemporary fermentation revival.”

I have been publishing non-fiction for more than 25 years. My work has appeared in dozens of publications, including The Walrus, Saltscapes, Reader’s Digest, The Globe and Mail, The Gazette (Montreal), Halifax Magazine, East Coast Living, The Halifax Examiner, DAL Magazine, The Coast, Atlantic Books Today, My Halifax Experience, American Craft, Atlantic Co-operator, Canadian Co-operator, Tablet, Best Health, Shambhala Sun, Concordia Magazine, Maroon and White (SMU), Queen’s Alumni Review, York U Magazine, Equinox (remember Equinox?), Farm Credit Canada Express, OpenFile, Optimyz, Canadian Screenwriter, Playback, The Big Frame, Canadian Bar Association National magazine, Les carrières de l’ingénierie, and Les carrières du droit.

I have contributed essays to the non-fiction books Dogs With Jobs, Saltlines, and Look Ahead, Get Ahead: Growing Career Opportunities for Technicians and Technologists (this one was a lot more fun than it sounds).

For five years, I was the editor of Canadian Screenwriter magazine, and I’ve been a writer and story editor for several documentaries. As an audio producer, my work has aired both regionally and nationally on CBC Radio.

While my focus is mostly non-fiction, I have also published short fiction and poetry, and for 14 years I wrote the beloved Daisy Dreamer comic for Chickadee magazine.

My interests are broad. I’ve written about everything from professional wrestling to mental health, and from food to art. My short feature Small-town Smackdown,written for The Walrus, was a National Magazine Award finalist.

I recently graduated from the University of King’s College MFA in Creative Non-fiction program, and am working on a book about new understandings of serious mental illness, as well as a longer upper-elementary fantasy graphic novel series.

In addition to my work in fiction and non-fiction, I am also available to write for organizations in the corporate, government, and non-profit sectors. My clients have included the National Film Board, the Canadian Labour Congress, and numerous independent film producers.

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donalee Moulton

donalee Moulton has been writing professionally for over 25 years. Her byline has appeared in more than 100 magazines and newspapers throughout North America – and beyond. Among the publications donalee has written for are The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Canadian Business and The National Post.

donalee Moulton’s first mystery book Hung out to Die was published in 2023. A historical mystery, Conflagration!, was published in 2024. It won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction). donalee has two new books in 2025, Bind and Melt, the first in a new series, the Lotus Detective Agency.

A short story “Swan Song” was one of 21 selected for publication in Cold Canadian Crime. It was shortlisted for an Award of Excellence. Other short stories have been published in numerous anthologies and magazines. donalee’s short story “Troubled Water” was shortlisted for a 2024 Derringer Award and a 2024 Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada.

As well, donalee is the author of the non-fiction book The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say, and co-author of Better Policy | Better Performance: The Who, Why, and What of Organizational Policy and Celebrity Court Cases: Trials of the Rich and Famous.

donalee has had poetry published in Arc Poetry Journal, Queen’s Quarterly, Prairie Fire, The Dalhousie Review, Atlantis, South Shore Review, Carousel, and Whetstone, among others. She is a former editor of The Pottersfield Portfolio and Atlantic Books Today.

donalee is a teacher. She has taught writing, editing, grammar and communications for the past 20 years in a variety of programs. She currently teaches numerous writing and editing courses as part of the Executive and Professional Development program at Saint Mary’s University, and has taught courses at Dalhousie University and Mount Saint Vincent University.

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Carole Glasser Langille

Carole Glasser Langille is the author of 5 books of poetry, 2 collections of short stories, 2 children’s books and a non-fiction book “Doing Time: Writing Workshops in Prison.”

Her second book of poetry, In Cannon Cave, was nominated for a Governor General’s Award in 1997, and the Atlantic Poetry Prize in 1998. “I Am What I Am Because You Are What You Are,” her second collection of short stories, was nominated for the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction. Her children’s book, Where the Wind Sleeps, was the Canadian Children’s Book Center Choice in 1996.

Several selections from Carole Glasser Langille’s book of poetry, Late In A Slow Time, have been adapted to music by renowned Canadian composer Chan Ka Nin. The production, also called Late In A Slow Time debuted at the 2006 Sound Symposium in St. John’s, Newfoundland and will be on Duo Concertante’s forthcoming CD.

Originally from New York City, where she studied with the poets John Ashbery and Carolyn Forche among others, Carole now lives in Black Point, Nova Scotia.

She has taught at The Humber School for Writing Summer Program, Maritime Writer’s Workshop, the Community of Writers in Tatamagouche, and at Women’s Words the University of Alberta. She has taught Creative Writing at Mount Saint Vincent University, Writing for the Arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and currently teaches Creative Writing: Poetry at Dalhousie University.

Carole has given poetry readings in Athens, Delhi, Prague, London England, New York City, Kirkcudbright Scotland, and throughout Canada. She has received Canada Council Grants for poetry, non-fiction and fiction as well as Nova Scotia Cultural Arts grants for poetry and fiction.

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Lezlie Lowe

Lezlie Lowe is a freelance writer, broadcaster and researcher.

The native Haligonian has worked as a writer and editor for Halifax weekly paper The Coast since 1995. She’s a weekly columnist for the Chronicle Herald, long-form documentary-maker for CBC radio and active freelancer.

Lezlie teaches feature writing and creative nonfiction at the University of King’s College and coordinates the first-year Foundations of Journalism class.

She has worked as principal researcher on documentary films for Life Network, the Independent Film Channel and Bravo and was the recipient of a 2004 Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada honourable mention for Commentary and two Gold Awards for Feature Writing at the Atlantic Journalism Awards.

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Josh MacDonald (he/him)

JOSH MacDONALD (he/him) is the writer of a theatrical adaptation for Robert Cormier’s classic novel I Am The Cheese. This adaptation is the winner of a Playwrights Guild of Canada Tom Hendy Prize, as well as a Theatre Nova Scotia Merritt Award for Outstanding Adaptation. Josh is also the writer of the stage plays Halo, Whereverville and The Mystery Play, which have been produced here at home and around North America, are published by Talonbooks, and are curriculum titles in high schools and universities. Josh is the winner of an AMD/Dell “Next Wave” Award for Best Screenplay from Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX, for his horror movie The Corridor (IFC Films). He is also the writer of the feature comedy Faith, Fraud & Minimum Wage (eOne Films). Josh writes for series television, is an actor for stage and screen, and has taught playwriting and screenwriting courses for Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (NSCAD).

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