After a career in advertising and television, Vicki wrote her first novel, The Puppet Wrangler, in 2004. Since then she has written sixteen YA/MG novels and been nominated for over twenty-five major awards. Her latest YA novel, 36 QUESTIONS THAT CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT YOU, has sold to 19 territories worldwide and will be translated into 15 languages.
Vicki has visited schools in Africa, South America and across Canada.
Joyce Grant-Smith was born in Annapolis Royal and has spent most of her life in the beautiful Annapolis Valley. She took her B.A. and B.Ed. at Acadia University. She has enjoyed teaching in elementary and middle schools for many years; so many years, in fact, that she’s frequently taught the children of former students. She and her husband, Les, have been married for over thirty years. They have raised two children, Jesse and Alexis, and a large menagerie of animals.
Joyce remembers writing as a small child, composing little notes and poems for family members. Her love for writing grew as she did and she delighted in learning to hone her craft. As an adult author, she has derived special satisfaction from writing for young readers.
Sylvia Gunnery has published many books for teens and children as well as professional resources for teachers of writing. A recipient of a Prime Minister’s Teaching Award, she has presented at conferences, libraries, and schools across Canada. She also enjoys working virtually with adult writers and students through workshops, mentorships, and WITS visits. Road Signs That Say West is her most recent YA novel. Sylvia lives at Crescent Beach on the South Shore of Nova Scotia where she’s working on a YA series of linked stories, what I know about next. https://sylviagunnery.ca
Lynn is the author of three collections of poetry. Her poems have been featured on CBC radio and translated into French and Spanish. Lynn’s poems and stories for children have appeared in anthologies and magazines. Her essays, reviews, and freelance pieces have been published in many magazines and journals.
Lynn was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. She lived in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for 18 years, and now lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where she works part time at Westminster Books. She’s taught creative writing through Continuing Education in Halifax and Fredericton, at the Maritime Writers’ Workshop, and at the University of New Brunswick. She has served on the WFNS and WFNB executive boards.
For more information about Lynn, her books, and author visits, please visit www.lynndavies.ca or e-mail Lynn at lynn@lynndavies.ca
Alison DeLory is a writer, editor, publisher, teacher, and consultant in Halifax.
She’s the author of an adult novel called Making it Home (Vagrant/Nimbus Publishing, 2019); two children’s chapter books called Lunar Lifter (Bryler Publications, 2012) and Scotia Sinker (Sketch Publishing, 2015), and a story in the YA creative non-fiction anthology Becoming Fierce: Teen Stories IRL (Fierce Ink, 2014).
Alison has written news, feature stories and essays for publications including The Globe and Mail, Chicago Tribune, Chatelaine, Today’s Parent, Ryerson Magazine, Dalhousie Magazine, Medical Post, Halifax Magazine, and Canadian Traveler.
Alison was a finalist twice in the Atlantic Writing Competition and won prizes for her blog and poetry at Mount Saint Vincent University. She served as a judge for the 2017 Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award and as a reader for the 2016 CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize. She’s been a presenting author twice at Word on the Street Halifax (2015 and 2019).
She has two degrees from Mount Saint Vincent University including a masters of public relations, and was editor of the alumni magazine Folia Montana there for four years. Her third degree is from Ryerson University in journalism.
Alison has been a part-time instructor at Mount Saint Vincent University in communication studies since 2013. She’s also taught at the Nova Scotia Community College and taught workshops through the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS). She participated in the WFNS Writers In The Schools program from 2009 to 2017, bringing writing workshops into more than 50 classrooms province-wide. Alison has served as council member at the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) since 2009.
Alison enjoys working with emerging authors on their manuscripts, and also performs substantive, structural and copy-editing for various clients including creative writers, business writers, and academics.
She is currently the Associate Director of Communications for the University of King’s College where she writes content for print and digital publications, and is editor of the alumni newsletter and Tidings Magazine.
Judy Dudar was raised in Alberta. She studied education at the University of Edmonton before moving to Nova Scotia with her husband and family in 1966. Family moves then took her to Vancouver, Norway, and England. After completing her BA, MA and Ph.D. she taught in the Departments of English at Dalhousie, Saint Mary’s and Mount St. Vincent Universities. As a VSO volunteer from 2000-2002, she taught in a rural Tanzanian secondary school.
Her children’s book, I Spy a Bunny (illustrated by Richard Rudnicki) was published by Nimbus in 2009.
Cindy Etter-Turnbull was born on November 24th, 1960 in Windsor Nova Scotia. After growing up in the village of Brooklyn, Hants County and educated in the West Hants school system, Cindy went on to further her university education at Mount Saint Vincent and Acadia. This was interrupted when the first of her two sons came along. With this new focus on raising her own young family, Cindy also started what turned out to be a twenty year career mentoring mentally challenged adults, both very rewarding jobs.
After a brief retirement, Cindy unexpectedly found herself writing her first book. Her outgoing personality, keen sense of humour, creativity and determination led to Fine Lines, a celebration of clothesline culture. A natural letter writer, avid gardener, and feisty fisherperson, Cindy also enjoys crewel embroidery, home decorating (or moving furniture all the time!) and community volunteer work. She is currently working on a play and a children’s book.
Cindy Etter-Turnbull Read More »
Geoff Butler is a painter, writer and book illustrator. He was born on Fogo Island, Nfld., near Brimstone Head which has been designated by the Flat Earth Society as one of the four corners of the earth.
Geoff practices his art daily so as not to fall over the edge. He has self-published five books: Art of War: Painting it out of the Picture (1990); The Look of Angels: Angels in Art (2004), a collection of poems, songs, stories, paintings and drawings; and With Every Breath We Take (2007), a modern fable in which a snowflake helps put an end to war; Our Own Little World: in paintings and verse (2013); and One Swallow Makes a Summer Meal: allegories in paintings and verse (2016). Every now and then, he strolls down Alphabet Soup Road to write and illustrate children’s books.
He is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Syracuse University. He also studied at the Art Students’ League in New York City. His paintings have been exhibited at, and toured by, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. He has been a visual arts recipient of a Nova Scotia Arts Council Creation grant and a Canada Council Established Artist grant. In 2006, he was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He lives in the small village of Granville Ferry, N.S.
Richard Charlton is originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. After five years in Nairobi, Kenya, in East Africa, he finally emigrated to Canada in 1975 with wife June and their three children: Joanne, John and James, settling in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Richard is a professional electrical engineer with a variety of extracurricular writing and dramatic productions to his credit, spanning many years with many published and performed works. He recently created the Kippernickker Adventure Stories for his grandchildren in California who asked for the stories so often he decided to write them all down. There are now ten stories in all, published through Little Fishes Publishing. Check the website for details
Lesley teaches part-time at Dalhousie University, runs Pottersfield Press and has published over 86 books for adults and kids. His Young Adult novels concern things like skateboarding, surfing, racism, environmental issues, organ transplants, and rock bands. Lesley surfs year round in the North Atlantic and is considered the father of transcendental wood-splitting. He’s worked as a rehab counsellor, a freight hauler, a corn farmer, a janitor, a journalist, a lead guitarist, a newspaper boy and a well-digger. He lives at Lawrencetown Beach overlooking the ocean. He also hosts a nationally syndicated TV talk show on Vision TV. His recent novel, Cold Clear Morning, is currently being developed as a feature length movie. In 2002, Goose Lane Editions published Choyce’s best-selling circumferential history book, The Coasts of Canada. That same year, his animal epic film, The Skunk Whisperer, was broadcast across Canada and heralded at the Maine International Film Festival. Along with the Surf Poets, he has released two poetry/music albums, Long Lost Planet and Sea Level.
To read excerpts from Lesley’s books and download free samples of his music, visit www.lesleychoyce.com.
The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) uses the following terms to describe writers’ experience levels:
Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children, writing for young adults, and others) 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.
Occasionally, WFNS uses the phrase “emerging and established writers/authors” to mean ‘writers and authors of all experience levels.’
The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the above definitions. A workshop’s participants should usually have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop and is presented with info, strategies, and skills that suit their experience.
For “intensive” and “masterclass” 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 uncertain about your experience level with respect to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca
