Jacqueline Halsey
For Jacqueline Halsey, growing up in post-war London meant walking to school past numerous bombsites and listening to her mother's stories about food rationing and air raids. Consequently, she always admired the courage of women and children coping with the tasks of everyday life in wartime situations. This courage inspired Peggy's Letters, Jacqueline's first book.
After High School she went to art college in Worthing, Sussex and then much later obtained a BA degree at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, which she attended as a mature student.
Jacqueline loves traveling and has visited many countries, including South Africa where she lived in a sugar mill village for four years.
She currently works in the Alderney Gate library in Halifa
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Budge was educated in Halifax schools and at Dalhousie University (degree in Philosophy and Psychology, Diploma in Education, Physical Education teaching certificate). She did two years of graduate work in English at the University of Toronto, and worked at the Institute of Child Study (U. of T.) for four years--filing, illustrating, editing, writing. She illustrated three books for the University of Toronto Press, worked for several years as a freelance commercial artist and child photographer, and was a fitness instructor from 1968 to 1989. She has been writing juvenile and adult fiction since 1978, with her first book published in 1984. Her work has been published in ten countries and in seven languages.
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Michelle Hebert
Michelle Hébert grew up on the beaches and marshes of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. She has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, degrees in journalism and social work, and she studies tarot on the side. Her writing about mental health, social justice, and finding joy where it seems there’s none to be had has appeared in Writerly magazine and in audio essays and short documentaries for CBC Radio. Her first book, Enriched by Catastrophe: Social Work and Social Conflict After the Halifax Explosion, was published in 2009. Michelle has lived across Canada but makes her home in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Mi’kma’ki), with her two adult children, several cats, and a dog who thinks she's a cat.
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L.M. Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908.
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Montgomery was born at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Nov. 30, 1874. She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. -
Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo, the newly named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2014–2015, says about stories, “When we read together, we connect. Together, we see the world. Together, we see one another.” Born in Philadelphia, the author lives in Minneapolis, where she faithfully writes two pages a day, five days a week.
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Kate DiCamillo's own journey is something of a dream come true. After moving to Minnesota from Florida in her twenties, homesickness and a bitter winter helped inspire Because of Winn-Dixie - her first published novel, which, remarkably, became a runaway bestseller and snapped up a Newbery Honor. "After the Newbery committee called me, I spent the whole day walking into walls," she says. "I was stunned. And very, ver -
Budge Wilson
Budge was educated in Halifax schools and at Dalhousie University (degree in Philosophy and Psychology, Diploma in Education, Physical Education teaching certificate). She did two years of graduate work in English at the University of Toronto, and worked at the Institute of Child Study (U. of T.) for four years--filing, illustrating, editing, writing. She illustrated three books for the University of Toronto Press, worked for several years as a freelance commercial artist and child photographer, and was a fitness instructor from 1968 to 1989. She has been writing juvenile and adult fiction since 1978, with her first book published in 1984. Her work has been published in ten countries and in seven languages.
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Naomi Hirahara
Naomi Hirahara is the USA Today-bestselling and award-winning author of multiple mystery series, noir short stories, nonfiction history books and one middle-grade novel. Her Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai series features a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor. Her first historical mystery, CLARK AND DIVISION, which follows a Japanese American family from Manzanar to Chicago in 1944, won a Mary Higgins Clark Award in 2022. Her two other series star a young mixed race female LAPD bicycle cop, Ellie Rush, and a Filipina-Japanese American woman in Kaua'i, Lellani Santiago. She also has written a middle-grade book, 1001 CRANES. In 2025, the history book she co-wrote with Geraldine Knatz, TERMINAL ISLAND: LOST COMMUNITIES ON AMERICA'S EDGE,
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Cathryn Fox
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cathryn Fox is a wife, mom, sister, daughter, aunt and friend. She loves dogs, sunny weather, anything chocolate (she never says no to a brownie) pizza and red wine. Cathryn lives in beautiful Nova Scotia with her husband, who is convinced he can turn her into a mixed martial arts fan. When not writing, Cathryn can be found Skyping with her son living in Seattle (could he have moved any farther away?) shopping with her daughter in the city, watching a big action flick with her husband, or hanging out and laughing with friends.
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Alma Fullerton
Alma Fullerton was first known for her award-winning free-verse novels for juvenile and young-adult readers, including the Governor General's Award-nominated Libertad. Alma's picture book A Good Trade was a White Ravens Choice, a Bank Street Best Book, and a nominee for a number of awards. In a Cloud of Dust won the Rainforest of Reading Award and was a finalist for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. When the Rain Comes was a 2018 USBBY Outstanding International Book, among other honors, and Community Soup was a CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens Starred Selection. Alma lives in Midland, Ontario
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Lauren Tarshis
Lauren Tarshis often wonders how she came to spend most of her waking moments thinking about disasters, as the author of the children's historical fiction series "I Survived." Each book takes readers into the heart of history's most thrilling and terrifying events, including the sinking of the Titanic, the Shark Attacks of 1916, Hurricane Katrina, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the San Francisco earthquake, 9/11, and the Battle of Gettysburg. Writing these books often makes her feel very nervous, as though at any moment a volcano could erupt right outside her window. Then again, she has learned a thing or two about avoiding being eaten by a shark.
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Lauren is also the author of the the award-winning Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree and its -
Julie Lawson
Julie Lawson is the award-winning author of many books for young people. Her novels include White Jade Tiger (winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Book Literature Prize and nominated for both the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award and the Silver Birch Award), Destination Gold, and The Ghost of Avalanche Mountain. Among her acclaimed picture books are The Dragon’s Pearl, Emma and the Silk Train, Bear on the Train, and Whatever You Do, Don’t Go Near That Canoe! Her most recent novel, Ghosts of the Titanic, was released in Spring 2011.
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Some of the events written about in A Ribbon of Shining Steel were based on the real-life experiences of Julie’s own grandfather, John Anderson, who was among the many immigrants needed to keep the CPR -
Vicki Grant
After a long and messy adolescence, Vicki Grant stumbled into writing. She worked her way up from 30-second ads to 30-minute television scripts to full-length novels. She's written sixteen young adult, middle-grade and high-low novels. Her most recent YA novel, 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You, has been published worldwide in over twenty territories.. Vicki lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
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Lesley Crewe
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From 2000-2005, Lesley was a features writer and columnist (Home Fires) for Cape Bretoner Magazine, and from 2005-2009, a columnist (Lesley's Letters) with the on-line magazine, Cahoots.
In 2005 her first novel, Relative Happiness, was published by Vagrant Press, the fiction imprint of Nimbus Publishing. It was an instant bestseller, and was shortlisted for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. She has since written nine other novels.
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Donalee Moulton
donalee is a professional writer and freelance journalist from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her byline has appeared in over 100 publications across North America, including Canadian Business, Chatelaine, Equinox, Ford Times, Maclean’s, and The Globe and Mail.
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Her most recent mystery novel Melt is the second in the Lotus Detective Agency series. It's about what happens when three yogis with a penchant for solving crime are asked to help a 17-year-old boy who is facing life in prison for a crime he did not commit. The first in the series Bind takes us back to where it all started. When the yogis first joined forces with two cops to discover who stole a very expensive watch from a local gym.
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Kate Beaton
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Anne Louise O'Connell
Author, developmental editor and partner publisher, Anne Louise O’Connell, was an expat from 1993 to 2016, then returned to Canada after enjoying the sun and sand of Florida, Dubai and Thailand over a span of 23 years. Anne worked in the PR field for 17 years and then decided it was time to just write. Since 2007, Anne has been writing books while freelance writing, editing, author mentoring and social media consulting, along with conducting writing retreats and workshops. While living the expat life, she contributed to Wall St. Journal Expat, Global Living Magazine and Expat Focus. She has a passion for travel and that adventurous spirit has taken her all over the world. Anne grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia and has a bachelor of public rel
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B.R. Myers
Always in the mood for a good scare, B.R. Myers spent most of her teen years behind the covers of Lois Duncan, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King.
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She is the author of the Mary Higgins Clark Award winning novel, A Dreadful Splendour, as well as numerous books for teens. Her YA novels have been chosen by the School Library Journal and the CCBC as top picks. Before she became a full time writer, she was a registered nurse for thirty-two years. A member of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, she lives in Halifax with her family—and there is still a stack of books on her bedside table. -
Helen C. Escott
Helen C. Escott is an award-winning Canadian author and playwright whose cinematic storytelling and deep insight into the human condition have earned her a distinguished place among contemporary crime writers.
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A former senior communications strategist with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, she brings a rare authenticity and precision to her work—translating decades of real-world experience into gripping narratives that pulse with realism, emotional truth, and suspense.
Her bestselling Operation Series—a six-book collection of crime thrillers—has captivated readers across Canada and beyond. The first book in the series was shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada’s Best First Crime Novel Award. The entire series has been optioned for tele -
Barbara Emodi
Barbara Emodi has written sewing how-to books and now writes cozy mysteries set in Nova Scotia, Canada. Gasper’s Cove doesn’t really exist but it will seem awfully familiar to anyone who lives where she does. The community is based all she believes matters in life - extended family, companion animals, good food, and more sewing, crafting, quilting, and knitting projects than any reasonable person would take on.
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Barbara writes what she likes to read - whimsical, witty, warm books that reflect her belief that there is nothing ordinary about ordinary people. She also likes clever surprises, important in mysteries, and promises one at the end of each book. To visit Gasper’s Cove yourself you can read Barbara’s novels in her Gasper’s Cove Myster -
Gina N. Brown
Gina N. Brown has written two novels, The Sugar Bowl Feud (2024) and Lucy McGee’s Moment of Truth (2021). In addition, she has written freelance articles for newspapers, magazines and on digital platforms.
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After a lengthy marketing career working in music, film, advertising, special events and museums, she founded NovaHeart Media in 2019, an independent publishing platform. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she loves she loves to swim, skate, canoe and cycle. -
Andy Tolson
Andy Tolson spent much of the 1980s as a drummer in London, England, playing both pubs and concert halls, though mostly pubs. He has been a boy magician, prop-maker, and writer. At The National Post and Maclean’s Magazine, Tolson was a photojournalist and editor. He now lives in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia in a big old house with his family and two cats named Olive and Ottoline. He is the author of the novel Noisemaker (published in 2022) and the middle-grade fantasy, How to Kidnap a Mermaid, was published fall 2024 with Nimbus Publishing. The sequel, How to Rescue a Unicorn will be out fall 2025. How to Wrestle an Octopus is out fall 2026.
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Michelle Hebert
Michelle Hébert grew up on the beaches and marshes of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. She has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, degrees in journalism and social work, and she studies tarot on the side. Her writing about mental health, social justice, and finding joy where it seems there’s none to be had has appeared in Writerly magazine and in audio essays and short documentaries for CBC Radio. Her first book, Enriched by Catastrophe: Social Work and Social Conflict After the Halifax Explosion, was published in 2009. Michelle has lived across Canada but makes her home in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Mi’kma’ki), with her two adult children, several cats, and a dog who thinks she's a cat.
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Donna Jones Alward
Since 2006, New York Times bestseller Donna Jones Alward has enchanted readers with stories of happy endings and homecomings that have won several awards and been translated into over a dozen languages. She’s worked as an administrative assistant, teaching assistant, in retail and as a stay-at-home-mom, but always knew her degree in English Literature would pay off, as she is now happy to be a full-time writer. Her new historical fiction tales blend her love of history with characters who step beyond their biggest fears to claim the lives they desire.
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Donna currently lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, with her husband and two cats. You can often find her near the water, either kayaking on the lake or walking the sandy beaches to refill her creati -
Gina N. Brown
Gina N. Brown has written two novels, The Sugar Bowl Feud (2024) and Lucy McGee’s Moment of Truth (2021). In addition, she has written freelance articles for newspapers, magazines and on digital platforms.
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After a lengthy marketing career working in music, film, advertising, special events and museums, she founded NovaHeart Media in 2019, an independent publishing platform. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she loves she loves to swim, skate, canoe and cycle. -
Donalee Moulton
donalee is a professional writer and freelance journalist from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her byline has appeared in over 100 publications across North America, including Canadian Business, Chatelaine, Equinox, Ford Times, Maclean’s, and The Globe and Mail.
Buy books on Amazon
Her most recent mystery novel Melt is the second in the Lotus Detective Agency series. It's about what happens when three yogis with a penchant for solving crime are asked to help a 17-year-old boy who is facing life in prison for a crime he did not commit. The first in the series Bind takes us back to where it all started. When the yogis first joined forces with two cops to discover who stole a very expensive watch from a local gym.
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Anne Louise O'Connell
Author, developmental editor and partner publisher, Anne Louise O’Connell, was an expat from 1993 to 2016, then returned to Canada after enjoying the sun and sand of Florida, Dubai and Thailand over a span of 23 years. Anne worked in the PR field for 17 years and then decided it was time to just write. Since 2007, Anne has been writing books while freelance writing, editing, author mentoring and social media consulting, along with conducting writing retreats and workshops. While living the expat life, she contributed to Wall St. Journal Expat, Global Living Magazine and Expat Focus. She has a passion for travel and that adventurous spirit has taken her all over the world. Anne grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia and has a bachelor of public rel
Buy books on Amazon -
Andy Tolson
Andy Tolson spent much of the 1980s as a drummer in London, England, playing both pubs and concert halls, though mostly pubs. He has been a boy magician, prop-maker, and writer. At The National Post and Maclean’s Magazine, Tolson was a photojournalist and editor. He now lives in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia in a big old house with his family and two cats named Olive and Ottoline. He is the author of the novel Noisemaker (published in 2022) and the middle-grade fantasy, How to Kidnap a Mermaid, was published fall 2024 with Nimbus Publishing. The sequel, How to Rescue a Unicorn will be out fall 2025. How to Wrestle an Octopus is out fall 2026.
Buy books on Amazon