Fiction (short stories)

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

Jan Fancy Hull Read More »

Dave Beynon

Originally from Britain, Dave Beynon moved to Canada as an infant, growing up on a farm north and west of Toronto.  He has been a cow milker, a short order cook, a waiter, a residence manager at the Hamilton Downtown YMCA (there’s a novel waiting to be written about those four years), a factory worker and a purveyor of fine corrugated packaging and displays.

Dave writes fiction of varying genres and lengths.  His short fiction has appeared in anthologies, periodicals, on-line and in podcasts.  In 2011, his novel, The Platinum Ticket was shortlisted for the inaugural Terry Pratchett Prize.

Dave co-hosted a local cable TV show called Turning Pages, an in-depth interview show that highlights authors, writing and publishing.

He lives on the South Shore and should have been living there his whole life.

His work is represented by Ed Wilson of Johnson & Alcock.

Dave Beynon Read More »

Sue Murtagh

Sue Murtagh (she/her) lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is a graduate of the Alistair MacLeod mentorship program (Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia) and the Humber School for Writers, where she worked with mentor Danila Botha. Her writing has appeared in The Nashwaak Review, Graincarte blanche, the Humber Literary Review, The New Quarterly, and yolkliterary.ca.

Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press published her debut short story collection, We’re Not Rich, in October 2024. Award-winning writer Alexander MacLeod edited the linked collection. The Walrus featured an excerpt from the book, a story called Extermination, in its print and digital editions.

Sue was the judge for the 2025 David Adams Richards prize in the New Brunswick Writers’ Federation’s annual writing competition.

 

Sue Murtagh Read More »

Nina Munteanu

Nina is a Canadian ecologist and novelist. She worked for 25 years as an environmental consultant in the field of aquatic ecology and limnology, publishing papers and technical reports on water quality and impacts to aquatic ecosystems. Nina has written over a dozen eco-fiction, science fiction and fantasy novels. An award-winning short story writer, and essayist, Nina currently lives in Toronto where she teaches writing at the University of Toronto and George Brown College.  Her book “Water Is…” (Pixl Press)—a scientific study and personal journey as limnologist, mother, teacher and environmentalist—was picked by Margaret Atwood in the New York Timesas 2016 ‘The Year in Reading’. Nina’s most recent novel is “A Diary in the Age of Water”—about four generations of women and their relationship to water in a rapidly changing world—released in June 2020 by Inanna Publications.

Nina Munteanu Read More »

Thea Atkinson

I’m a NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling Author who gained those letters with books included in self-published box sets with like-minded writers.

I used to have a black lab at my feet when I wrote, warming up the calves. She was a good girl. I miss her. Now it’s just a cuppa tea keeping this old gal warm. Maybe someday though…

I love to read, and I love to get inside a character’s skin.  I call my little ditties, fiction to the left of mainstream because they never truly match up with one perfect genre. Still want a label? I got em. Urban Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, LitFic with dark themes, grimdark dystopian…But I really just write what I like, and am always looking for the next character to populate my ever growing list of series.

I’ve published in lit journals and print publications; delivered workshops; and sat on a writers panel with the likes of Patricia Briggs and Guy Gavriel Kay and found both of them to be amazingly authentic human beings.

I seek out opportunities to speak to new writers and deliver workshops on fiction writing, plotting, publishing, and using technology.

To date, HalCon SciFi Con in 2019 was the highlight of my author career.

Thea Atkinson Read More »

Suzanne Stewart

Having completed a Ph.D. in English literature (with a specialization in the Romantic Period) at the University of Saskatchewan, Suzanne also holds an M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction from the University of King’s College in Halifax.  She lives and writes in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where she teaches (part-time) at St. Francis Xavier University in the Department of English, as she shares her delight and passion for books with young readers and writers. When not writing, reading, or teaching, Suzanne spends her time outdoors; her journeys into the countryside, during all four seasons, inspire and shape her aesthetic experience of the world.

 

Suzanne Stewart Read More »

Chad Lucas

Chad Lucas has been in love with words since he attempted his first novel on a typewriter in the sixth grade. He has worked as a newspaper reporter, communications advisor, freelance writer, part-time journalism instructor, and parenting columnist.

His work has appeared in publications including Halifax Magazine, Black to Business, Sport Quarterly and The Chronicle Herald, where he wrote a biweekly column, “Life With Kids,” from 2011-2016. He’s a previous Silver Award winner at the Atlantic Journalism Awards, and his short fiction has appeared in EVENT and The Dalhousie Review.

A proud descendant of the historic African Nova Scotian community of Lucasville, Chad lives with his family in Nova Scotia. His debut middle grade novel, Thanks a Lot, Universe (Amulet Books/Abrams Kids) is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and earned praise as “heartwarming and bold” in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and “funny and deeply empathetic” in a starred review from School Library Journal. His second middle grade novel, Let The Monster Out, releases in May 2022.

Chad Lucas Read More »

Robin Metcalfe

A writer, Queer activist and community historian of Acadian and Newfoundland heritage, Robin Metcalfe has published journalism, cultural criticism, short fiction and poetry in international periodicals and anthologies. He won the 2000 Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-Fiction and was shortlisted for a National Magazine Award in 2004. He lives in Weijuik/Sheet Harbour Passage.

Pronouns: he, him

Robin Metcalfe Read More »

Jeff Miller

Jeff Miller is the author of the award-winning creative nonfiction collection Ghost Pine: All Stories True (Invisible Publishing). His stories have appeared in several anthologies and he frequently publishes criticism. He holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia. As a creative writing educator, he has lead workshops in Montreal, Halifax, and Calgary, and worked as a high-school writing mentor and university teaching assistant. He lives on the Eastern Shore.

Jeff Miller Read More »

Scroll to Top

Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) uses the following terms to describe writers’ experience levels:

  • New writers: those with less than two years’ creative writing experience and/or no short-form publications (e.g., short stories, personal essays, or poems in literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks).
  • Emerging writers: those with more than two years’ creative writing experience and/or numerous short-form publications.
  • Early-career authors: those with 1 or 2 book-length publications or the equivalent in book-length and short-form publications.
  • Established authors: those with 3 or 4 book-length publications.
  • Professional authors: those with 5 or more book-length publications.

Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children, writing for young adults, and others) provides you with a unique set of experiences and skills, so you might consider yourself an ‘established author’ in one form but a ‘new writer’ in another.

Occasionally, WFNS uses the phrase “emerging and established writers/authors” to mean ‘writers and authors of all experience levels.’

The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the above definitions. A workshop’s participants should usually have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with info, strategies, and skills that suit their experience. 

For “intensive” and “masterclass” workshops, which provide more opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback, the recommended experience level should be followed closely.

For all other workshops, the recommended experience level is just that—a recommendation—and we encourage potential participants to follow their own judgment when registering.

If uncertain about your experience level with respect to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca