Upcoming Events
Atlantic & Nova Scotia Book Awards Shortlists Celebration
Monday, March 31, 2025 (5:00 pm)
Join us at the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS) as the shortlisted titles for the Atlantic Book Awards and the Nova Scotia Book Awards are revealed. Raise a toast to the nominated authors and find out about upcoming events of the Atlantic Book Awards Festival, May 29 to June 5.
Atlantic Book Awards include the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, the J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award, the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Literature (YA), the Atlantic Publishers Award for Best Published Book, and the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction. Nova Scotia Book Awards include the Margaret and John Savage First Book Awards (Fiction & Nonfiction), the George Borden Writing for Change Award, the Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award, Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award, and the Dartmouth Fiction Award.
King’s Co-op Bookstore will be on site. Cash bar.
SAVE THE DATE
Nova Scotia Book Awards Celebration
Monday, June 2, 2025 (7pm; doors 6:30pm)
Winners of the Nova Scotia Book Awards will be announced at Brightwood Golf & Country Club (227 School Street, Dartmouth, NS).
Tickets will be $15.
Call for Submissions
Books are now being accepted for the Nova Scotia Book Awards. Publishers have until November 1, 2024 to submit awards for the 2025 awards.
Books of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by Nova Scotia writers are eligible.
Because the Nova Scotia Book Awards bring together awards administered by two different nonprofit groups, please take care to submit to the right organization.
- Books of poetry published between Nov. 2, 2022 and Nov. 1, 2024 by Nova Scotian authors may be eligible for the Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award, a $2,000 prize. Please submit to the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia
- Non-fiction books published between Nov. 2, 2023 and Nov. 1, 2024 by Nova Scotian authors may be eligible for the Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award, a $2,000 prize. Please submit to the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia
- Novels published between Nov. 2, 2023 and Nov. 1, 2024 by Nova Scotian authors may be eligible for the Dartmouth Fiction Award, a $2,000 prize. Please submit to the Dartmouth Book Awards.
- Debut novels published between Nov. 2, 2023 and Nov. 1, 2024 by Nova Scotian authors may be eligible for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (Fiction), a $2,000 prize. Please submit to the Dartmouth Book Awards.
- Debut non-fiction books published between Nov. 2, 2023 and Nov. 1, 2024 by Nova Scotian authors may be eligible for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award (Non-fiction), a $2,000 prize. Please submit to the Dartmouth Book Awards.
- Non-fiction books that inspire others and challenge the status quo may be eligible for the George Borden Writing for Change Award, a $2,000 prize. Please submit to the Dartmouth Books Awards.
Complete submission details are available for each award by the organization noted.
Save the date! The Nova Scotia Book Awards will take place at 7 pm on Monday, June 2, 2025, at Brightwood Golf and Country Club in Dartmouth.
2023 Nova Scotia Book Awards Shortlists
Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction
Bobbi French, The Good Women of Safe Harbour (HarperCollins)
Alexander MacLeod, Animal Person (McClelland & Stewart)
Jo Treggiari, Heartbreak Homes (Nimbus Publishing)
Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award
Kate Beaton, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (Drawn & Quarterly)
El Jones, Abolitionist Intimacies (Fernwood Publishing)
Kim Pittaway & Toufah Jallow, Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement (Penguin Random House)
George Borden Writing for Change Award
El Jones, Abolitionist Intimacies (Fernwood Publishing)
Elder Sister Dorothy Moore, A Journey of Love and Hope (Nimbus Publishing)
Wanda Thomas Bernard, A Child of East Preston (Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute)
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award for Non-Fiction
Kate Beaton, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (Drawn & Quarterly)
Martha Paynter, Abolition to Abortion (Fernwood Publishing)
Mandy Rennehan, The Blue Collar CEO (HarperCollins)
Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award
Sylvia D. Hamilton, Tender (Gaspereau Press)
Sue Goyette, Monoculture (Gaspereau Press)
Nanci Lee, Hsin (Brick Books)