Nonfiction (adult)

Alice Walsh

Alice Walsh writes fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. Her published work includes nine books for children and young adults. Many of her books have been nominated for or won awards. A number of them have been listed as Best Books for Children and Teens in Canada. Her YA novel Pomiuk; Prince of the North (Dundurn 2005) won the Ann Connor Brimer award.

Alice graduated from St. Mary’s University with degrees in criminology and English, and from Acadia with a master’s in Children’s Literature. She has worked as a preschool teacher, volunteer probation officer, creative writing instructor, and hospital ward clerk.

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Deborah Stiles

Deborah Stiles was born and raised in Appalachia, in West Virginia, but found herself moving northward in 1988. A graduate of the University of Maine’s M.A. in Creative Writing in 1990 with the thesis No Curtains on These Windows (a collection of short stories), she has published poems, short stories, agriculture and cooking articles, and scholarly articles in a wide variety of journals in Canada and the U.S.

In 2002, BrickHouse Books (Baltimore, Maryland), published her book-length poem, Movement Catalogued; in 1991, Northern LightsPress (Orono, Maine) published her poetry collection, Riding Limestone. She has completed two additional poetry manuscripts, whose poems have appeared in The Fiddlehead, The Carleton Arts Review, To, Kennebec, Zymergy, Nashwaak Review, Pottersfield Portfolio, and elsewhere. In 1997, after living in Fredericton, NB for three years, she applied for landed immigrant status and also completed her Ph.D. (University of Maine, History) with a doctoral thesis on the Fredericton-based-but rurally-oriented poet and newspaper editor, Martin Butler (1857-1915). Currently, she is working on several projects, including a novel and also the revision of her thesis on Martin Butler. In January 2004, she became a Canadian citizen.

An Associate Professor in Humanities at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, and a part-time farmer, Stiles enjoys teaching history, writing and literature courses and sharing her love of the natural world, agriculture, and rural society that is an integral part of her creative work.

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Jon Tattrie

Jon Tattrie is the editor of Atlantic Books Today and a freelance journalist with CBC and other media outlets. He’s the author of two novels and six nonfiction books, including Peace by Chocolate and The Hermit of Africville.

He holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Kings College and has taught writing and journalism at Kings and at Dalhousie University. He now helps people write their own books through Write Now! with Jon Tattrie at jontattrie.ca

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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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Gary Lloyd Saunders

Gary Saunders was born in tiny Clarkes Head, Newfoundland, in 1935, some 30 years before electricity and road traffic arrived, and when sea and river were still the only avenues to the outside world. He received a B.Sc. in Forestry from the University of New Brunswick in 1959, and a B.F.A. from Mount Allison in 1965.

“Growing up in this place and time, to leave at the age of ten for town and city, left a vacuum that I filled with stories and visual imagery from my childhood. From these come my books and paintings.”

Since the sixties he has published articles in magazines like Nature Canada, Canadian Living, and American Forests, and 13 books.

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Marjorie Simmins

Marjorie Simmins is the author of four non-fiction titles: Coastal Lives (2014); Year of the Horse (2016), Memoir: Conversations and Craft (2020), and Somebeachsomewhere: The Harness Racing Legend from a One-Horse Stable (2021).

Simmins began her career as a freelance journalist in Vancouver, appearing regularly in the Vancouver Sun and writing for trade magazines. She also published numerous essays and articles in magazines and newspapers across Canada, and in the United States, and has stories in Canadian and American anthologies. She has won a Gold Medal at the National Magazine Awards for “One-of-a-Kind Journalism,” and two Gold Medals at the Atlantic Journalism Awards for Best Atlantic Magazine Article, and in Arts and Entertainment, Any Medium.

In November 2020, she was awarded the prestigious Established Artist Recognition Award by Arts Nova Scotia.

Among the magazines Simmins has written for are: Canadian Living, Magazines Canada, United Church Observer, Halifax Magazine, Progress, Atlantic Business, and Saltscapes. She is a regular reviewer for The Antigonish Review and Atlantic Books Today. She has also written feature interviews for The Reporter, the community newspaper in Port Hawkesbury, NS.

Marjorie Simmins has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of British Columbia, a Certificate in Adult Education from Dalhousie University, and a Research Master of Arts in Literacy Education, at Mount Saint Vincent University. She teaches memoir writing across Canada, at venues such as at the UBC Alumni Centre, in Vancouver, BC (2016); at StoryFest, in Hudson, QC (2017); at Thinkers Lodge, Pugwash, NS (2014-2019); and the Fortress of Louisbourg, NS (2019). Recently, she has begun to teach coast to coast (still waiting for the north coast!) Zoom workshops.

In September 2020, Simmins took part in the Cabot Trail Writers Festival, as a panellist and workshop leader. The following spring of 2021, Simmins was honoured to serve as a reader for the 2021 CBC Non-Fiction Prize.

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Magi Nams

Magi Nams is an award-winning nature writer, aspiring novelist, and author and indie publisher of the travel memoir trilogy Cry of the Kiwi: A Family’s New Zealand Adventure. She holds a B.Sc. in zoology and an M.Sc. in plant ecology and has published scientific papers, written wildlife-related material for government agencies and conservation organizations, and published dozens of magazine articles in the children’s nature magazine Ranger Rick. She has also published poetry and has broadcast personal essays on CBC Radio.

Magi is a keen gardener, birder, hiker, traveller, and piano student. Check out her books and latest travel and outdoor adventures at maginams.ca. Magi lives in a 177-year-old farmhouse near Tatamagouche with her wildlife biologist husband.

Books: Cry of the Kiwi trilogy: Once a Land of Birds, This Dark Sheltering Forest, Tang of the Tasman Sea

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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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Darcy Rhyno

Darcy Rhyno writes novels, short stories, plays, non-fiction (travel, science, health, people profiles). His latest book is a memoir about life in post-communist Eastern Europe.

He is the author of the pre-teen fantasy novel set in 1950’s Halifax called THE UNDERWORLD MAGICIAN. He’s also the author of the YA novel MONSTERS OF SUBURBIA, which is a realism adventure story with themes of bullying, isolation, estrangement and myth. This novel is suitable for junior high readers. He has also published two collections of short stories, CONDUCTOR OF WAVES and HOLIDAYS. He’s been writing for Saltscapes magazine since 2007. He is an award-winning travel writer and a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada and has published hundreds of articles with Saltscapes, Canadian Geographic Travel, BBC Travel, Atlas Obscura, The Daily Beast, the Chronicle Herald and many, many more. His play Snowbirds, a comedy set at Christmas, has been produced twice in Nova Scotia.

Conductor of Waves is a collection of 12 stories set in a fictional Nova Scotia fishing community. The Globe and Mail called it “a strikingly accomplished collection.” His first novel for children placed second in the Atlantic Writing Competition. As a columnist for Saltscapes magazine, Darcy writes the back page for each issue, prepares feature articles and writes for special publications about travel, food and other topics. He writes for other magazines and newspapers as well. One of the stories in his collection called Holidays was published in The Vagrant Revue of New Fiction, an anthology of work by the most promising writers in Atlantic Canada.

For much of his career, Darcy has worked in education and with children. A teacher and arts worker by profession, he has worked with many schools and teachers across the province, as well as with artists from all genres. For 16 years, he was an instructor in the graduate program of the Faculty of Education at Mount St. Vincent University where he taught courses in popular culture, reading, media and literature. His readings and workshops are always engaging, informative and entertaining. See his website at www.darcyrhyno.com

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