WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px
WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px

Celebration of Emerging Writers (Halifax)

Join us as we celebrate 10 of Nova Scotia’s best emerging literary talents and hear from their winning works!

2026 Nova Writes Competition winners:
Elizabeth Collis, Budge Wilson Short Story Prize
Sophia Lawrence, Silver Donald Cameron Essay Prize
Avery Mossop, Joyce Barkhouse Middle-Grade & YA Fiction Prize
Lorraine Ryan, Rita Joe Poetry Prize

2026 Emerging Writers Prizes recipients:
Norman Ho, Charles R. Saunders Prize
Guyleigh Johnson, Senator Don Oliver Black Voices Prize
Sarah Mian, Elizabeth Venart Prize

2026 Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program graduates:
Jessica Marsh (fiction)
Pamela Sinclair (fiction)
Alexandra Vlachopoulou Horn (nonfiction)

We’ll also be launching the second annual Nova Writes anthology. 

Beverages & copies of the Nova Writes Anthology 2026 will be available for purchase by cash or card.

Location: Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia (1113 Marginal Rd, Halifax), a wheelchair-accessible venue with a wheelchair-accessible, all-gender bathroom. Please enter via the WFNS office door. (Wayfinding map)

Date: Wednesday, June 10 (6:30pm – 8:30pm)

Free to attend; no registration required

Scroll to Top
WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px

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