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Thibault Jacquot-Paratte

From the Annapolis Valley. Travelled across North Amrica, Europe, India, Japan, Cameroon, Tunisia. Bachelor’s of Nordic studies from the Sorbonne in 2015, Master’s in sociology in 2017; year of study in Tromsø, Norway, Study certificates from the University of Vaasa (Fi.), and The Askov Folkehøjskole (DK.).

Started publishing poetry in 2010, has since published poetry, short stories, essays, and theatre in both English and French, in Canada, Europe and India. His first three plays were published in Paris in 2016-2017; first poetry collection in Allahabad in 2020. In 2017, co-directed and co-wrote one film (Danish-Estonian coproduction). Also a musician and a songwriter, has had the opportunity to play in Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Denmark, India and japan, and has produced multiple recordings. He has also been invited as an official poet to certain events, such as one of the official poets of the SNA at the 2019 CMA, in Moncton. His published work ranges across almost all genres – realism, fantasy, absurdism, abstract prose, poetry…

Thibault Jacquot-Paratte – Wikipedia

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David Wimsett

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Marcia Harding

BIO: Marcia Pierce grew up in Lockeport, N.S. When she was fifteen, her family moved to Liverpool where she met her future husband, Craig Harding. After completing their university education, they returned to Liverpool where they raised two children and lots of lab puppies.

Education: Acadia University – B.Sc. in Psychology (1970) B.Ed. (1971) Honours

Mt. St. Vincent University – Masters of Education (1993) Senate Medal of Distinction

During her 33 years as an elementary school teacher, she enjoyed writing, directing and producing plays with her students.

While serving as a board member for The Astor Theatre, Winds of Change (Drama Group) and Liverpool ‘s International Theatre Festival, she co-produced several stage plays, including Mermaid’s Tale (winning entry in LITF 2014).

Helping to organize and promote fundraisers for the Astor Theatre, her proudest achievement was A TRIBUTE TO SABLE ISLAND. Zoe Lucas held the audience spellbound with her amazing SLIDES of wild horses projected on the BIG screen. Performances included sea-themed songs by soloists and the Girls Choir, readings, displays of photographs and paintings and a reception – something for everyone. Full house!

To honour her cherished friend, Joyce Barkhouse, author of Pit Pony, Marcia produced the Pit Pony Audio Book in cooperation with actor/narrator Richard Donat.

As a certified fitness instructor, Marcia taught a variety of exercises classes in Queens County over the years. Her interests include dancing, hiking, skating, swimming, sailing, and best of all, walking Summerville Beach with her family and their dogs.

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Jacqueline Dumas

Jacqueline Dumas’s latest novel is The Heart Begins Here, (Inanna Publications, 2018).

Her previous writing experience includes two published novels: Madeleine & the Angel (Fifth House, 1989); The Last Sigh (Fifth House, 1993); a children’s picture book: And I’m Never Coming Back(Annick Press, 1986); and a one-act play, Secrets,whichwas produced at the 2013 Edmonton International Fringe Festival.

She was born in Alberta and spent most of her working life there. She has extensive experience in the book business, including ownership and management of two Edmonton bookshops over the years, most recently Orlando Books (1993-2002), a progressive bookstore that specialized in post-colonial issues, cultural studies, feminisms, queer studies, and literature from small presses.

When Orlando Books closed, Dumas went back to school and obtained a Master of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Alberta. She has since taught English at Grant MacEwan University, the University of Alberta, and Dalhousie University. She has also designed and facilitated creative writing workshops and served as coordinator of the Writer-in-Exile program for the City of Edmonton.

She moved to Nova Scotia in July 2013.

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Dian Day

Dian Day is the author of the award-winning novels The Clock of Heaven (Inanna, 2008) and The Madrigal (Inanna, 2018). Her third book, Shy Cat, is the first in a graphic novel series for middle grade readers, with artist Amanda White (Second Story Press, 2026). Dian recently completed a doctoral degree in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University in work focused on the portrayal of poverty and food insecurity in children’s fiction.

Dian is at work on her first YA book, Air Holes, and her fourth novel for adults, Reason. She lives and writes in Nalikitquniejk/Antigonish.

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Shelley Thompson

Shelley Thompson is an actor, screenwriter, and activist based in Wolfville, in Mi’kma’ki (NS). She trained at The Royal Academy of Drama.c Art, the Canadian Film Centre, Women in the Directors’ Chair, the New York Writers’ Lab, and the Whistler Producer’s Lab.

As an actor she’s received and been nominated for Gemini and ACTRA awards for her work in film and television, including THE TRAILER PARK BOYS, and feature films SPLINTERS, and THE CHILD REMAINS among others.

Her short films have screened internationally with the most
recent, DUCK DUCK GOOSE, winning Best Atlantic Short at FIN Halifax. It was selected by Telefilm Canada’s Not Short on Talent at Clermont-Ferrand, and was a finalist in CBC’s Short Film Faceoff.

Her first feature film, Dawn, Her Dad & The Tractor premiered at Inside Out Film Festival in Toronto (BFI Flare), screened in Whistler, BC, where it was nominated for the Borsos Prize, and in Halifax. It played across Europe, and won the 2022 Nova Scotia MasterWorks Award.

Thompson is working on a second novel Murmurations. She has TV and cinema projects in development under the banner of her emerging production company, Rusty Tractor Productions Inc which in 2023, produced a documentary series TRANSLATIONS presently on CBC Gem, and Bell Fibe TV1

A committed LGBTQ+2SP ally, Thompson is proud parent to singer/ songwriter T. Thomason, a trans man who inspires her, every day.

ROAR, her first novel, was published by Nimbus/Vagrant Press in Nova Scotia, in October 2023, was nominated for the Margaret and John Savage first novel prize, and won the OLA’s Evergreen prize in 2025.

WINTER SKY, her second book was published by Nimbus/Vagrant in Oct 2025, and in 2026 was nominated for the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction.

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Rachel Cooper

Rachel is a freelance writer, editor and instructor with 20+ years’ experience. Clients include fiction and memoir authors, businesses, government, not-for-profits, and universities.

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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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Paul MacDougall

Paul is the author of Distinction Earned, (2011) published by Cape Breton University Press. Paul researched the boxing era in Cape Breton and collected dozens of interviews from participants, enthusiasts and their heirs. The book’s title is taken from a citation of Cape Breton boxers at a Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame investiture in 1987. It was a Nova Scotia best selling book for five months.

In 2019 he worked with documentary film director Charles Currie to make a film based on his book, “Distinction Earned, Cape Breton Boxing’s Golden Era” which was shown at numerous venues, on Eastlink TV and can now be found on YouTube.

Paul also writes short fiction, book reviews, newspaper and magazine articles and one-act plays. He has four plays and co-written three plays all of which were originally produced at the Elizabeth Boardmore One Act Play Festival and five have won the Boardmore Prize for Best Original Script. His three most recent plays are The Venetian Gardens (2013), Wraslin (2015) and Solstice (2018).

In 2020 he completed writing the script for Donair, the Musical with songs and music by Duncan Wells. It was released as a 78 minute audio in December 2021 and hopefully will find a home on stage in the summer of 2022 (CoVID permitting) in Sydney and Halifax.

He conducts outdoor writing workshops in unique locations, and in local high schools, taught a number of introductory non-credit writers’ class at Cape Breton University, has organized a book club for the CBU Seniors College, and was a member of the local CBC radio book panel for a number of years.

He writes a monthy column for the Cape Breton Post entitled “The Sporting Life” and is the host of “The Good Sentence” an almost weekly radio program on “Dialogue” on The Coast 89.7 FM (Bell FibreOp station 773 and streaming online) in which he interviews local authors and arts community members about their recent works.

He also gives lectures and presentations on his work to interested groups.

Paul is a registered microbiologist and a Senior Instructor in the Health Sciences Department at Cape Breton University.

WRITING AWARDS

Geist Magazine Time Zones short story writing contest. Made short list. 2015

The Venetian Gardens (play) Boardmore Prize for Best Original Script 2013.

Rockabye Baby (play) Boardmore Prize for Best Original Script 2009.

Ave Maria (play) Boardmore Prize for Best Original Script 2008. Co-written with Ken Chisholm.

All Souls’ Eve (play) Boardmore Prize for Best Original Script 2007. Co-written with Ken Chisholm.

O Night Divine (play) Boardmore Prize for Best Original Script 2005. Co-written with Ken Chisholm.

Chemical Difference (play) Best Play from another source (a short story of mine) Boardmore One-Act Play Festival 2003. Co written with Ken Chisholm.

Gambit (short story) Indigo Books contest 2nd place winner 2003

Double Double (short story) WFNS 2nd Place winner 1992

Some interesting online publications of Paul’s

The Sporting Life, my monthly column in CB Post

https://www.capebretonpost.com/lifestyles/local-lifestyles/paul-macdougall-living-among-the-mikmaq-527202/

http://www.capebretonpost.com/section/2016-01-25/article-4415095/Cycling-with-the-Italians/1

http://www.capebretonpost.com/Sports/2015-05-15/article-4147050/Sydney-Millionaires-on-Stanley-Cup-forever/1

Local history pieces

http://www.shunpiking.com/bhs/longwalk.htm

http://www.shunpiking.com/bhs/Marcus-gar.htm

Book reviews

Off the Rack

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Paul Zann

Paul is a versatile author: adult novel: A Real Son of a ‘Vitch; children’s books: The Aussie Six in Canada, The Aussie Six in Australia, The Aussie Six in Spain, and The Weirdest Class; book of satirical essays: You’ve Gotta be Kidding!; plays: Strike! and The Parasite/s; poetry book: Crouching at the Keyhole; numerous poems and stories in Canadian, U.S., Australian, and Spanish journals.

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