Atlantic Book Awards and Festival 2021: A Virtual Experience

Celebrate with this year’s nominees in the comfort of your home during our virtual Atlantic Book Awards festival May 6–13.
Thursday, May 6, 7:00 pm ADT
Family Dynamics in Fiction
Event link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85943093353
Stories that explore familial relationships have always resonated with readers. Join journalist and author Pauline Dakin (Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood) for a discussion on how some of this year’s nominated fiction titles captured beautiful and challenging family dynamics.
Featuring:
- Chris Benjamin (Boy with a Problem)
- Laura Best (Good Mothers Don’t)
- Bridget Canning (Some People’s Children)
- Alison Taylor (Aftershock: A Novel)
Presented in partnership with Halifax Public Libraries.
Monday, May 10, 7:00 pm ADT
Storytellers of Cape Breton
Register for this free event here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ilo2yfJEQW268cmXbDnnAQ
Cape Breton is home to a vibrant community of writers that have provided readers with an abundance of treasured novels. Learn how the island plays a role in the works of these three nominees:
- Lesley Crewe (The Spoon Stealer)
- Julie Curwin (The Appendage Formerly Known as Your Left Arm)
- Morgan Murray (Dirty Birds)
Moderated by author and Artistic Director of the Cabot Trail Writers Festival, Rebecca Silver Slayter.
Presented in partnership with the Cabot Trail Writers Festival and the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.
Wednesday, May 12, 7:00 pm ADT
Understanding Our Past: Exploring Nova Scotia’s history
Register for this free event here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_–kBcFAUQNKhdmchfaQ3gA
Writers have historically played an essential role in helping us understand our past, allowing us to see who we are and how we got here. Author Lindsay Ruck (Amazing Black Atlantic Canadians: Inspiring stories of courage and achievement) will lead a discussion of this tradition through the lens of marginalized communities. Featuring:
- shalan joudry (Waking Ground)
- Tyler LeBlanc (Acadian Driftwood: One Family and the Great Expulsion)
- Rebecca Rose (Before the Parade: A History of Halifax’s Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Communities, 1972–1984)
Presented in partnership with the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.
Tuesday, May 18, 7:00 pm ADT
Poetry & Prose: A discussion of craft
Register for this free event here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3aw5zlcFQSGM5QIztGskqQ
Join us for a discussion on craft and how, or if, the approach changes when writing in different literary genres. Hosted by author Amanda Peters and featuring:
- Tammy Armstrong (Year of the Metal Rabbit)
- Afua Cooper (Black Matters)
- David Huebert (Humanimus)
- Anne Simpson (Speechless: A Novel)
Presented in partnership with the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.