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Open Mic for Emerging Writers (River John)

As part of the 2026 Read by the Sea Literary Festival in River John, NS, the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) is pleased to host an open mic for emerging writers!

If you’re an emerging writer in Pictou County (or if you’re attending the Read by the Sea from further afield), we’d love to have you join us. Readers can sign up at the event and will be offered 5 minutes each.

An open mic is a great opportunity to get comfortable sharing your work with a supportive audience. It’s also a chance for readers to discover up-and-coming writers in their community.

Location: River John Public Library (2725 West Branch Rd, River John, NS), a wheelchair-accessible venue with wheelchair-accessible, gendered washrooms.

Date:  (7:00pm to 9:00pm Atlantic)

Sign-up to read: at the event (first come, first served)

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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