Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road B3H 4P7 Halifax, NS, Canada

Visual Arts Nova Scotia announces Eryn Foster as the lead coordinator for Artists in Mind, a newly launched artists' mental health research initiative coordinated through VANS in collaboration with Arts Nova Scotia. Eryn is an interdisciplinary artist who also works as an arts consultant, researcher, educator and community arts advocate in Halifax. If you happen to know about any interesting programs (in Nova Scotia or beyond) that support artists’ mental health and well being, Eryn would love to hear about it. You can email Eryn at: [email protected]

We’re trying something new! It’s called Unmute Your Mic and the first of three events - this one with a poetry/spoken word focus - takes place on Friday, Feb. 12, 8 pm. Abena Beloved Green is our host, and Halifax Poet Laureate Sue Goyette will offer feedback to those writers taking part. Interested? There are still spots available. Sign up to perform at writers.ns.ca/announcement/unmute-your-mic or register to attend as an audience member here at us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-l6EovVoQ7KtzDWZMUr57w #nswriterslife #unmuteyourmic #spokenword #poetry @a_belovedgreen @suegoyette

Look up! Poems in our Poetry in Motion project can still be seen on Metro Transit buses. Here’s a look at One Rock for Maxine Tynes by Evelyn White spotted on the Number 1. #poetryinmotion #poetryinthewild #nswriterslife @hfxpublib

Tonight! The first part of our Taking Care of Business series goes tonight, 7 pm, on Zoom. In tonight’s edition, you’ll hear from writer Vicki Grant, agent Fiona Kenshole, and lawyer Jillian Kean about publishing contracts and agents. Sign up through our website, writers.ns.ca

We're pretty pumped that Paula is leading a Writers' Fed workshop this spring - The Plot Thickens: Crafting A Compelling Romance. It's a five-week workshop running Monday nights starting April 26. Register: https://writers.ns.ca//the-plot-thickens-with-paula-alten/

Congratulations Afua Cooper on winning the 2020 Portia White Prize! And thank you for sharing your prize with the Writers' Fed of Nova Scotia! Your generosity will create a legacy by contributing to the new Nova Scotia Poetry book award and creating bursaries for Black writers.

Congratulations to the winners of our inaugural Postcard Story Contest! 1st: The woman sitting beside me by donalee Moulton (@donalee.moulton) 2nd: "Roots and Ropes" by Leanne Schneider (@leanne.p.schneider)... 3rd: "The Wolfman" by Charles "Gus" Doiron (@gusstoriesca-192972901238938) Read the winning stories on our website: writers.ns.ca/projects-events/postcard-story-contest/ Congrats also to our seven finalists: Rhian Irene Calcott, Fiona Chin-Yee, Barbara Darby, Joanne Gallant, Rose Poirier, Jennifer Reichow, and Syr Ruus --- donalee Moulton is a professional writer. As a freelancer, she has published articles in online and print publications throughout North America. She is co-author of the book Celebrity Court Cases. donalee has also published short stories and poems in journals across Canada including The Dalhousie Gazette and The Antigonish Review. Leanne Schneider was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. After moving away at the age of six, she returned to Yarmouth in 2000, where she now resides. She lives on a small horse farm in the country, with her family nearby. She has one daughter and a grandson, who are the light of her life. She has had an essay published in the magazine Dreamers Creative Writing, with another essay forthcoming in their online magazine. Both essays cover the topic of her life with what was stage III Breast Cancer and is now stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer. Charles Gus Doiron has a collection of speculative fiction stories available at gusstories.ca and is currently working on a novel.

The Creative Nova Scotia Gala is tonight (Saturday). Celebrate artists from the comfort of your home by watching the livestream: https://www.liveheist.com/livestream Starts at 7 pm!

Poetry in Motion's official installation period wraps up at the end of November, so this week, we're sharing each of the selected poems, read by the poets themselves! Here's Halifax Poetry Laureate Sue Goyette performing an excerpt from Forty-Seven," one of ten poems selected for inclusion in the 2020 edition of Poetry in Motion. This year's theme was "journeys." To see & hear all ten poems now, visit writers.ns.ca/programs-awards/poetry-in-motion/journeys-2020. ---... Poetry in Motion is a public art project of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. Short poems (and excerpts from longer poems) are displayed on transit ads in buses throughout the Halifax Regional Municipality in the fall of each year. In 2020, poems are also displayed on Transit Cape Breton buses in Sydney. The Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia is grateful to @ArtsNovaScotia.ArtsNouvelleEcosse for their investment in Poetry in Motion and to @hfxpublib, the @hfxgov, and Cape Breton Transit (@CBRMgov) for their partnership in realizing this project.

Congratulations David Huebert!