Nonfiction (adult)

Joan Baxter is a Nova Scotian author, journalist, development researcher/writer and anthropologist who now divides her time between Canada and Africa. Her 2017 book, The Mill – Fifty Years of Pulp and Protest, won the 2018 Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing, and was shortlisted for three other awards. It also topped the Nova Scotia Chapters Indigo bestseller list for three months.

Her 2008 book, Dust From Our Eyes – an unblinkered look at Africa, was shortlisted for the 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize in the United States, and a second edition was released in 2010. Her 2001 book, A Serious Pair of Shoes: An African Journal, won the Evelyn Richardson Award for non-fiction at the 2001 Atlantic Writing Awards. The late Peter Gzowski included her letters to CBC Morningside in his series of Morningside Letters books, and described Joan’s first non-fiction work, Graveyard for Dreamers: One Woman’s Odyssey in Africa, as “a magical book”. In addition to hundreds of news reports and features for BBC World Service, her short fiction has also been aired on this worldwide radio service in several languages. She has lived and worked in Mexico, Guatemala, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Sierra Leone, and is multi-lingual.

For more than two decades Joan lived with her family in Africa, reporting for the BBC World Service, CBC Radio and the Associated Press. Her writing has also appeared in Le Monde Diplomatique, The Toronto Star, Pambazuka News, The Scotsman, The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, and The Chronicle Herald. She also worked as a Senior Science Writer at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2006 and 2007, she served as Executive Director for the international non-governmental organization, the Nova Scotia – Gambia Association, working in The Gambia and Sierra Leone on development education for youth and marginalized groups. While there, she produced two films showing positive images and messages from West Africa. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the international NGO, USC Canada / Seeds of Survival.

Over the years she has met, interviewed and profiled a host of African presidents, dignitaries, writers, intellectuals, thinkers and artists, including the late and much-loved President Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, the late great Miriam Makeba of South Africa and Ali Farka Toure of Mali, the sensational Malian duo Amadu & Mariam, the late Francis Bebey of Cameroon, and many more. She is a frequent public speaker on African issues and does consulting and voluntary work in development. She specializes in development issues as they relate to social and environmental justice, climate change, human rights, sustainable agriculture, food and seed and land sovereignty.

Paul W. Bennett, Ed.D. (OISE/Toronto) is a Halifax author, professor, and commentator. He is the author of ten books, most recently The State of the System: A Reality Check on Canada’s Schools (2020). He’s an education columnist for Saltwire Network and Brunswick News and a regular contributor to The National Post, The Globe and Mail, and Post Media regional papers across Canada. His book reviews appear regularly in The Literary Review of Canada.

Paul is founding Director of Schoolhouse Institute, and Adjunct Professor of Education at Saint Mary’s University. Over a career spanning four decades in three different provinces, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, Dr. Bennett has written or co-authored ten b ooks, sixteen major education policy studies, and dozens of articles in both the popular media and the academic press.

Dr. Bennett is a widely recognized leader and commentator in Canadian education. From 1997 until 2009, Paul served as Headmaster of two of Canada’s leading independent coeducational day schools, Halifax Grammar School and Lower Canada College. Since 20009, he’s devoted his time and energy to the cause of public education reform.  His Blog, Educhatter, was honoured as the Top Education Blog in Canada in 2018 and 2022.

Paul is also a public-spirited and active citizen. He served as Chair of the Board of the Halifax Public Libraries (2010-17) and guided the development and opening of Halifax Central Library. From 2011 to 2016,  he served as President of the Halifax Branch of the Canadian International Council, then as Board Chair at Churchill Academy in Dartmouth (2016-2022).  For the past six years, he’s been National Coordinator of researchED Canada, guiding its development from coast-to-coast.

Søren Bondrup-Nielsen was born in Denmark, but at the age of 13 his family immigrated to Canada. After a year in Toronto they moved into the country, and as a teenager, Søren spent as much time as he could outdoors. His outdoor interests eventually led to a PhD in Zoology from the University of Alberta. Søren moved to Nova Scotia in 1989 where he joined the Biology Department at Acadia University, teaching Ecology and Conservation Biology.

Søren is passionate about the outdoors and how we humans relate to nature. With many scientific articles and edited books dealing with ecology and conservation, Søren tackled writing for the general public with the publication of “Winter on Diamond: An encounter with the Temagami Wilderness”, which was published through Res Telluris in December 2004. In 2008 Gaspereau Press published Winter Nature. Common Mammals, Birds, Trees and Shrubs of the Maritimes. In 2009 Gaspereau Press published Søren’s third book A Sound Like Water Dripping: In Search of the Boreal Owl.

Meryl Cook is an author, contemporary fibre artist, speaker, creativity expert and former homeopath. She specializes in connecting people with their creativity. She shares her process for unblocking creativity as a way of finding a renewed sense of purpose and discovering your next steps in business and in life.

Since 2016 Meryl has spoken and taught creativity workshops across Canada and in the US. She holds a Masters of Science in Applied Clinical and Industrial Psychology.

Meryl’s first book One Loop at a Time, a story of rug hooking, healing and creativity, (December 2016) is the story of her reinvention through creativity. Her second book One Loop at a Time, The Creativity Workbook (November 2017), shares tools for beginning the process of reinvention through journaling and sketching.

Meryl teaches her self care framework through her popular and often sold out creativity workshops such as: Journaling to Reignite your Business (Teaching) Creativity; Journaling as a Life Skill; Creativity as Healing Energy – Design your own Healing Image; Hook a Healing Mat; Chakra Colour Love; Hooking from the Inside Out – Inspired Design for Healing Energy; and The Creativity Workbook Toolkit – Looking inside for Answers (this is a writing and sketching/journaling workshop). She works at the individual, group and corporate level.

Meryl travels and speaks widely about how to use creativity as a vehicle for self care. Her main messages are that small steps can have a massive impact if we take it One Loop at a Time, and that we all have a wisdom and a  capacity within us. We can turn inside for answers. Her message is as practical as it is inspiring.

Meryl is a Council member of the International Association for Journal Writing and a member of the Writers’ Council for the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.

Allison Watson is the author of Transplanted: My cystic fibrosis double lung transplant story. She was born with cystic fibrosis and grew up in New Brunswick. After undergoing a double lung transplant and subsequently getting post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder, she hopes her days of medical turmoil are in her past. Allison has a BSc in biology and recreational therapy from Dalhousie University. She loves board games, reading, and hiking.