Poetry (adult)

Jan Morrison

Jan Morrison’s poems have appeared in literary journals such as Grain, Pottersfield Portfolio, and Newfoundland Quarterly. Her plays, States of Grace; Death, the Musical; Shroom!; Fields of Crimson; and Mrs. Finney’s Hat have been staged at The Chester Playhouse; Neptune Theatre; The Halifax Fringe Festival; and Eastern Front Theatre. She has recently had her debut novel published by Boulder Books – The Crooked Knife. When not writing Jan likes to garden and ramble the shore near her home in Prospect, NS.

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Luke Hathaway

Luke Hathaway is a trans poet, librettist, and performer who lives in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, and teaches full time at Saint Mary’s University. His mythopoeic word-worlds have given rise to new musical and/or theatrical works by composers Colin Labadie, Benton Roark, Zachary Wadsworth, and James Rolfe, as well as by DaPoPo Theatre. His books have been recognized on ‘Best of’ lists in New York Times, the Times (U.K.), The National Post, and the Globe and Mail, as well as on NPR and the CBC. He frequently collaborates with singer/scholar Daniel Cabena as part of the metamorphosing ensemble ANIMA (animaearlymusic.com).

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Sue MacLeod

Sue MacLeod is the author of one YA novel, Namesake, and three poetry collections. Since 2022 she has been working on picture book manuscripts. In 2024 she was a picture book mentee with Whale Rock Workshops, won an Arts Nova Scotia grant to write a picture book trilogy about lighthouse children, and placed as a finalist in a US-based contest, PBParty. In 2025 she signed with an agent, Abigail Samoun of Red Fox Literary. Her debut picture book (soon to be announced) will be published in fall 2027.

Sue has made her home in Halifax, where she was the city’s first poet laureate (2001 to 2005) and in Toronto and Montreal. She has read from her work across Canada and has taught creative writing at Dalhousie University, the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Quebec Writers’ Federation.

Her poems have been described as “necessary and cherishable” (George Elliott Clarke); and Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang, writing in Open Book Toronto, said, “I wandered around town quoting her poetry out loud to myself until I noticed how many people crossed the street to avoid me.” Reviewing Sue’s YA novel, Canadian Children’s Book News wrote, “without a misstep .. this book is a gem” and CM Magazine agreed: “In every way, this book is a triumph.”

Sue now lives in south end Halifax, working on new picture book manuscripts and taking frequent strolls along the boardwalk.

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Sara Jewell

Author of a children’s picture book and two books of nonfiction for adults

Freelance magazine writer

Substitute Teacher, elementary school

Licensed lay worship leader, United Church of Canada

Bachelor of Arts (honours) English and Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University, Kingston, ON

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Kelly S Thompson

Kelly S. Thompson is a writer and retired officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. Kelly has a Honours Bachelor degree in Professional Writing from York University, a certificate in Publishing from Ryerson University, a master’s in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and is completing a PhD in Literary and Critical Studies, Creative Writing, at the University of Gloucestershire in the UK, where she examines representations of grief and trauma in memoir.

Kelly’s work has won awards in a variety of genres. She won the House of Anansi Press Golden Anniversary Award for Fiction, the 2014 and 2017 Barbara Novak Award for Personal Essay, and was shortlisted for Room magazine’s 2013 and 2014 Creative Nonfiction awards, placing 2nd in the 2019 contest. Her essays have appeared in anthologies across Canada, including Boobs, by Caitlin Press, Embedded on the Home Front, with Heritage House and Everyday Heroes with Simon & Schuster.

Her work has appeared in literary magazines across the country and her professional writing has been printed in Chatelaine, Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail, and more. Her article on military sexual harassment titled “Battle Fatigue,” was runner up for Feature Article of the Year with the Professional Writers Association of Canada. She was also nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2022.

Her memoir Girls Need Not Apply: Field Notes from the Forces with Penguin Random House Canada, was an instant Globe and Mail bestseller and declared one of the top 100 books of 2019 by the Globe and Mail.

Kelly also teaches writing to all levels, having run after-school writing programs for teenage girls, creative writing classes for children, and taught Creative Writing and Communications at Trent University. She now teaches at the University of King’s Creative Non Fiction. She also developed and runs classes for Royal Roads University and Loyalist College.

Kelly’s next memoir, Still, I Cannot Save You, will release with McClelland & Stewart in January, 2023.

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Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland

I am an author, theatre artist and arts educator with more than four decades of professional experience. As a theatre artist, I have toured with Second City doing improv comedy, played the Witch in Hansel and Gretl with the Honolulu Symphony and told my original stories at the Toronto International Storytelling Festival. My arts education credits include work with Learning Through the Arts, World Vision, and the Storytellers School of Toronto.

I served as Artistic Director of KPH Theater Productions in Miramichi, N.B. from 2012 to 2016, and along with my husband, Beverly Glenn Copeland, completed half a dozen artist residencies* in N.B. schools. I was honoured to serve as Writer-in-Residence* for James M. Hill High School in 2015. (*Funding support through NB Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture.)

In February 2016 I was part of the faculty at the San Miguel Writers Conference (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico), and led the creative writing workshop at the Knowlton Literary Festival in Knowlton, Quebec in October.

In 2017, I returned to Mount Allison University to indulge myself in two years of full time study of eco-poetry, feminist philosophy, sustainability in education and medieval studies. Thanks to MTA, in the summer of 2017 I completed a residency to research and create a one-act spoken-word play entitled, “Bearing Witness”.

During my tenure as 2018 Writer-in-Residence at Joggins Fossil Institute, I researched and wrote — “Daring to Hope at the Cliff’s Edge: Pangea’s Dream Remembered”: an art/science collaboration and conversation between myself and the three-hundred million year old rock. The theme: how to find what Buddhist eco-philosopher, Joanna Macy calls Active Hope as we stand at this cliff’s edge in our evolution as a species. The book was launched in Sackville, N.B. on Sept. 29, 2019 by Chapel Street Editions.

Due to covid, my cross country tour to promote this book was cancelled, but late 2020 saw a resurgence of interest in the work and its message of hope. I participated in the Writing for Change series launched by The Rose Theater in Brampton, ON. An exciting variation on this theme will be happening virtually on March 21 at The Rose with spoken-word artist extraordinaire, Ian Keteku.

Since moving to Spencers Island in Jan. 2021, I am making new writing and peforming friends and will be part of the Shipwright Sessions (Ships Company Theater) in Aug. 2021.

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Camilla Thompson

Camilla Thompson is an author, educator and storyteller on a mission to improve mental health education and literacy across Canada. As the director of Sunnyside Self Wellness and author of Skating Late, Camilla introduces people of all ages and abilities to writing and wellness practices proven to increase peace, positivity, health and happiness, and shares inspiring stories of hope determination and community involvement.

Camilla’s debut book, Skating Late, is a work of Canadiana in children’s literature that features a confident and creative gender neutral fox that all Canadian kids can relate to. Parents, teachers and grandparents will love to read this tale aloud, but it is best enjoyed when recited by the author during class visits and community events.

“After sleeping in and waking up to a Canadian conundrum, Skating Late to school is the only solution. Facing some slippery situations along the way, is it possible to make it on time? Skating Late is a fast paced adventure full of danger, dread and determination! Strap on your skates, buckle your helmet, and prepare yourself for a wild ride!”

As a dynamic educator and entertaining storyteller with a passion for whole self wellness and mental health education, Camilla is excited to visit classrooms and communities across Canada sharing her Sunnyside stories and introducing the writing and wellness practices that have been life enriching at her best times and life saving during her most difficult trials.

Camilla is a disability entrepreneur returning to the workforce after her career was interrupted by kidney disease and the Covid 19 pandemic. During her three year healing hiatus, Camilla dedicated herself to her writing and studies. She wishes to thank The Halifax Humanities Society for offering free education in the humanities to Nova Scotians who face barriers to traditional education. This life changing educational opportunity is based on The Foundation Year Programme offered by the University of King’s College, and is is made possible by the generosity of local professors who donate their time and tutelage to help participants develop as writers, speakers and thinkers.

Camilla’s second book, Canada’s Ocean Letdown, is the story of a Come From Away grandchild who has an unfortunate introduction to the shores of Nova Scotia when they are stung by a jellyfish, attacked by swarm of mosquitoes and have to eat a peanut butter and SAND sandwich picnic for lunch. Her storytelling performances of this tale are receiving lots of laughs across the province. It will be illustrated by Canadiana artist Bonnie Lemaire and published in March of 2024.

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Jan Fancy Hull

Jan Fancy Hull lives and writes beside (and sometimes on) a quiet lake in Lunenburg County. She was born on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore.

In November 2021 she embarked on a series of Tim Brown Mysteries, which are set on Nova Scotia’s south shore. By the spring of 2026, ten full-length novels will have been launched.

Her debut non-fiction book, Where’s Home?, was published in 2020. She has published two books of short stories, The Church of Little Bo Peep and other stories, 2021, and Inquire Within, 2022.

All are available from the publisher, Moose House Publications, and most mega-vendors online.

Her poem, “Moss Meditations” was awarded the Rita Joe Poetry Prize in the 2022 Nova Writes literary competition. Other poems have been published in The Antigonish Review, in Gathering In, an anthology published by Windywood Publishing in 2020, and in a chapbook, What We All Want, with Janet Barkhouse and Cynthia French, 2024.

Before retiring (from steady paycheques), Jan served in various careers, enterprises, pursuits, and avocations, including as arts administrator, sailing tours skipper, and employee benefits broker. She created sculptures from Nova Scotian sandstone, is a member of the Lunenburg Art Gallery Society, and writes. She is a Member of the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia Writers’ Council.

She also likes to play golf, and drift on the lake in her kayak.

Facebook: Jan Fancy Hull / Jan Hull Stoneist;

Websites: janfancyhull.ca / thestoneist.com

Amazon author page

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Tiffany Morris

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Basma Kavanagh

Basma Kavanagh is a poet, visual artist, and letterpress printer who lives and works in Nova Scotia, in Mi’kma’ki. She produces artist’s books under the imprint Rabbit Square Books. She has published two collections of poetry, Distillō (Gaspereau, 2012), and Niche (Frontenac, 2015), which won the 2016 Lansdowne Prize for Poetry, and was a finalist for the 2019 NS Masterworks Arts Award. The book-length poem, Ruba’iyat for the Time of Apricots (Frontenac 2018), was shortlisted for the 2019 J.M. Abraham Poetry award, and won the Book Publishers Association of Alberta’s Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry Book of the Year. Basma has taught workshops and courses on poetry, printmaking, bookbinding, and letterpress, and has formally and informally mentored emerging artists and writers. She has been an artist in residence at the Penland School of Crafts, the Banff Centre, and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

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