Nonfiction (adult)

Laurie Glenn Norris

Laurie is a writer of historical fiction and non-fiction, and is particularly interested in nineteenth-century Canadian history and the lives of girls and women during that period. She is the author of Found Drowned (Vagrant, 2019), Haunted Girl: Esther Cox & the Great Amherst Mystery (Nimbus, 2012; and Cumberland County Facts and Folklore (Nimbus, 2009).

Currently she is working on two projects, a biography of the Amos “King” Seaman family of Minudie, Nova Scotia, and an historical novel set in London, England.

She holds a B.A. in Anthropology, a B.Ed. in Social Studies and Language Arts and an M.A. in Art History.

Her first novel, Found Drowned, in 2024, was optioned by the Langley Fine Arts School, Langley, BC, and produced into a one-act play. In November of that year, it was performed at a Langley Theatre Festival.

Laurie lives in River Hebert, Nova Scotia, with her husband, Barry Norris, and kittycat Dinah.

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Francene Gillis

Welcome to my profile. I am who I am, or am I… a paradoxical enquiry worth pondering. “What is most personal is most universal,” –Alistair MacLeod, yet another truth. And the mosaic—picking up pieces and putting them back together again into people who are stronger and better than before—those are the fulcrums, the wheels, and philosophies that drive my writing. I hope you will find information of interest that leads to a partnership or invitation. In brief…I am looking for publishers, freelance writing projects, possible editing depending on genre, and educational and human-interest writing for a fair fee of course as I am now retired, not through choice but injury. That you can read about in my upcoming memoir plus published by OC Publishing this June 22, 2025. Lots more on that on my Facebook page, instagram and soon to be website. I love writing and have been doing so since the tender age of 14. My first poem written at 16 was dedicated to my nine-year-old brother who drowned below our house. I am a professional writer living in Cape Breton, and I am working on several writing projects with the hope of being published in a much bigger circle. Following are highlights of my career thus far: Columnist: 30 plus years with a weekly newspaper: The Inverness Oran; Author: A Rose In November, collection of human interest stories, (1994); English teacher and Educator: 30 plus years, high school for the last 23 and as a substitute prior, while working in adult education and literacy; Masters in Education: Multicultural Diversity, Administration & Leadership, St. Francis Xavier University, 2013; Tribes Trained & Piloted …(2013–2015) Program created by Dr. Jeanne Gibbs, 2006 to help educational institutions and businesses become more successful; Winner of several national, regional writing and educational awards; Reviewer Pearson Canada of educational materials designed for grade nine students; Freelance Editor of several weekly and monthly rural magazines; Worked on several Nova Scotia Department of Education committees…Literacy Success 11 & 12, Advanced English 12 Pilot, Provincial Advisory Board, Grade 12 Provincial Exam; Presenter: Numerous conferences through Literacy, Adult Education, and Public School System such as ATENS Conference 2013, Strait Regional Inservices, Provincial Literacy Conferences; Consultant: (1994–1997) through my own business prior to coming back into the public education system, specializing in education, literacy, editing, and writing; Worked with CCLOW (Canadian Congress Learning Opportunities for Women) writing a chapter in a collective resource for female adult learners across Canada on issues such as self-esteem, confidence, motivation, and upgrading; Mentored by author Alistair MacLeod; I am presently working on a war book that tells the story of four brothers who fought in the Second World War from the time they were boys in rural Canada their struggles after enlisting as boys who become soldiers, and men, and which unlike other war books follows them to their deathbed whether in the war or after. The stories are funny, and serious, and devastating, and deal with battles on and off the frontlines. Called Momma Cried, it will be published this fall by Cape Breton Soul Food Publishing. I also have a fictional manuscript that evolved from true feature stories with men who were sexually abused called Truth Be Told looking for a home and publication in 2026. It is necessary for those silenced too long to be heard. It carries and awareness and educational piece that needs coverage. I also have collections of short stories, educational materials for high school students and teachers, a collection of poems, and several book length manuscripts. I would very much like to work with other professional writers or editors, and to fine a reputable agent for my writing. I would like to branch out as a columnist for human-interest or educational magazines. I guess now that I’m feeling better I wanna do everything because for eight years I could not until I found the right therapies and support and education, thus the memoir where did I go coming out in June. My intent, my hope with all of these books is to be a voice for those silenced too long because of invisible injuries, being different, and those who are called to step up to the plate and be courageous when they are anything those but. Please check me out on my other social platforms. Take care, Francene Gillis

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Patrick d’Entremont

Patrick d’Entremont is a former newspaper and magazine columnist who, now in retirement, writes literary fiction set in rural Nova Scotia, based on his childhood growing up in the 1960s. Readers have said these stories evoke laughter and tears, with their snappy dialogue, distinct characters, and unique and vivid settings.

His debut novel, “Eating Grass (Manger de l’herbe)” is being published by OC Publishing and is due to be released in July, 2026. It is the story of a teenager in an Acadian village in the late sixties who—once exposed to the world around him via television and U.S. radio stations—starts questioning everything about himself and his upbringing.

A sequel set in the university years, and a prequel outlining the backstory, are current works in progress.

Patrick grew up in West Pubnico, a fishing community founded by returning exiles following the Acadian expulsion of 1755. His stories show how growing up in this milieu shaped who he became as an adult, a coming-of-age reminiscing that seems to resonate with many people, whether or not of Acadian descent.

www.patrickdentremont.com

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Allison Lawlor

Allison is a freelance writer. Since 2003, she has worked from her home in Prospect.

While studying journalism at Ryerson University, she spent a summer working as a reporter for The Rural Voice, a farming magazine based in Blyth, Ont. She happily travelled the countryside talking to farmers and hearing stories about the latest breed of cattle and amazing new varieties of corn and cauliflower.

From Blyth, she moved on to work as a reporter at several daily newspapers in Ontario, including The Brantford Expositor and The Standard in St. Catharines. After landing a summer internship at The Globe and Mail in Toronto, she stayed for another two years writing and editing for the paper’s website.

In 2003, she returned to Nova Scotia, the place she had fallen in love with as an English and Russian student at the University of King’s College a decade earlier.

Her work has been published in newspapers and magazines. She has also written seven non-fiction books.

Her first book 250 Years of Progress: Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency was published by Nimbus in 2005. Her second book, Rum-Running was published by Nimbus in 2009. It was the first book in a series called Stories of Our Past.

In 2015, The Roar of the Sea, a book ghostwritten by Allison, was published by Boulder Publications. Her book, “The Saddest Ship Afloat”- The Tragedy of the MS St. Louis was published by Nimbus in 2016.

Broken Pieces, a children’s non-fiction book about the Halifax Explosion, appeared in bookstores just before Dec. 6, 2017, the 100th anniversary of the explosion. Broken Pieces was nominated for a 2019 Silver Birch Award by the Ontario Library Association and a 2019-2020 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award.

Allison also works as a writing coach with journalism students at the University of King’s College.

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Kate Inglis

KATE INGLIS is an author living on the south shore of Nova Scotia. Her fourth book, Notes for the Everlost: A Field Guide to Grief won the Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Literary Award. She also writes children’s fiction, including award-nominated novels — her fifth and most recent picture book, A Great Big Night was awarded a Kirkus star and was nominated for the national David Booth Children’s and Youth Poetry Award. Kate’s work has been featured in poetry anthologies, and she also co-authored a best-selling book on the craft of photography.

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Dr. Ceallaigh S. MacCath-Moran

Dr. Ceallaigh S. MacCath-Moran holds B.A. in Celtic Studies from the University of Toronto, an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Maine, and a PhD in Folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. She’s also an author, poet, and musician under the names Ceallaigh S. MacCath-Moran and C.S. MacCath. Her long-running Folklore & Fiction project integrates these passions with a focus on folklore scholarship aimed at storytellers, and she brings a deep appreciation of animism, ecology, and folkloristics to her own storytelling.

Work from Ceallaigh’s two fiction and poetry collections has been shortlisted for the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award, nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and nominated for the Rhysling Award. Recently, her podcast radio drama “The Belt and the Necklace,” was produced by the Odyssey Theatre in Ottawa. She’s a member of the American Folklore Society, the International Society for Folk Narrative Research, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, and many other professional societies for folklore scholars and authors.

Ceallaigh is also the CEO of Triskele Media Inc., a family-owned and operated technology company specializing in enterprise and government web applications, and she’s a Sail Canada certified celestial navigator who is learning to sail and hoping to chart her course by the stars across the ocean while she writes. Meanwhile, she lives on Cape Breton Island with her husband Sean, who hopes for the stars and the ocean too. You can find her online at csmaccath.com, folkloreandfiction.com, and linktr.ee/csmaccath.

Dr. MacCath-Moran is represented by Kelly Thomas at Serendipity Literary Agency. To inquire about her books, please write to info@serendipitylit.com.

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Carol McDougall

Carol McDougall is a writer and advocate for early literacy. She was born in Northern Ontario and has been active in the Nova Scotia writing community for many years.

In 2005 she was awarded the Mayor’s Award for her contribution to literature and literacy and in 2010 received the Progress Women of Excellence Award for the Arts.

In 2012 Carol received the Beacon Award for Social Justice Literature for her novel Wake the Stone Man, which was inspired by her northern roots. The novel was published in 2015 by Roseway Publishing. Wake the Stone Man was awarded the 2017 Frye Acadamy Award.

Carol’s work includes writing for children, non-fiction, fiction, essays, book reviews and video scripts and her short fiction has been published in Room and presented on CBC radio.

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Darryl Whetter

Dr. Darryl Whetter is the author of 4 books of fiction and 3 poetry collections. His collection of stories, A Sharp Tooth in the Fur, was named to The Globe and Mail’s Top 100 Books of 2003. His debut novel, The Push & the Pull, was released in Spring 2008. Origins, his 2012 collection of poems, concerns energy, evolution and extinction as they can be observed at Joggins, Nova Scotia. Professor Whetter edited the nomination dossier of the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in their successful bid for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. He has published nearly 20 stories in journals and anthologies, including Best Canadian Stories, The Fiddlehead, PRISM, Prairie Fire, The New Quarterly and Best Asian Short Stories 2020. In 2021, he won the Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award.

Darryl holds a PhD in English from UNB and has published or presented papers on contemporary literature in France, Sweden, Canada, Germany, the United States, India, Singapore, Australia and Iceland. Nearly 100 of his commissioned book reviews have appeared in venues such as The Toronto Star, The National Post, The Vancouver Sun, The Montreal Gazette, The Globe and Mail, and Detroit’s Metro Times. Darryl Whetter has been a professor of English and Creative Writing at various universities in Canada and was the coordinator of the creative writing program at Dalhousie from 2008-2010. In the mid-2000s, he was a regular panelist on the national CBC Radio program “Talking Books.”

His most recent books are the climate-crisis novel Our Sands, from Penguin RH (2020) and the anthology Teaching Creative Writing in Asia, from Routledge (2021)

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Heather MacKenzie-Carey

Heather MacKenzie-Carey, the founder of Pixie Dust Healing, comes from a medical background and has worked as a health educator, paramedic, teacher, and in counselling and consulting capacities. Heather is the author of Melvin’s Balloons. www.pixiedusthealing.com

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Jaime Forsythe

Jaime Forsythe is a writer living in Halifax. Her writing has appeared in a number of magazines and journals, including This Magazine, Geist, The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, Lemon Hound, Matrix, The Rusty Toque, and more. Her first full-length poetry collection, Sympathy Loophole, was published in Spring 2012 by Mansfield Press. Her second, I Heard Something, was released by Anvil Press’ A Feed Dog Book imprint in Spring 2018.

Jaime has twice been a mentor in the WFNS Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program, and has taught writing workshops in a variety of venues, including elementary schools, at Dalhousie University and Mount Allison University, and to youth and adults in the community.

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