Upcoming Events
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).
The nominees for the 2025 Nova Scotia Book Awards are:
Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction
Tammy Armstrong, Pearly Everlasting, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Charlene Carr, We Rip the World Apart, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Susan LeBlanc, The Nowhere Places, Nimbus Publishing & Vagrant Press
Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award
Martin Bauman, Hell of a Ride, Pottersfield Press
Andrea Currie, Finding Otipemisiwak: The People Who Own Themselves, Arsenal Pulp Press
Dean Jobb, A Gentleman and a Thief, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
George Borden Writing for Change Award
OmiSoore H. Dryden, Got Blood to Give: Anti-Black Homophobia in Blood Donation, Fernwood
Publishing
Darce Fardy*, Living With Dementia, Nimbus Publishing
Brenda J. Thompson, Enslavers of the Maritimes, Moose House Publications
*nominated posthumously
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Fiction
Jessica Ilse, The Majestic Sisters, Nimbus Publishing & Vagrant Press
Shawn Lawlor, Boom Road, Galleon Books
Susan LeBlanc, The Nowhere Places, Nimbus Publishing & Vagrant Press
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Non-Fiction
Martin Bauman, Hell of a Ride, Pottersfield Press
Bee Stanton, Atlantic Ghosts, Nimbus Publishing
Dr. Ron Stewart* with Jim Meek, Treat Them Where They Lie, Nimbus Publishing
*nominated posthumously
Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award
Alice Burdick, Ox Lost, Snow Deep, Anvil Press
Cory Lavender, Come One Thing Another, Gaspereau Press
Annick MacAskill, Votive, Gaspereau Press
Double Nominee! You read that right. The Nowhere Places by Susan LeBlanc has earned two nominations for Nova Scotia Book Awards!
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)