Shandi Mitchell

Shandi considers herself an east coast prairie girl. Growing up, she split her time between the Armed Forces base where her family was stationed, and her aunt and uncle's farm. A graduate of Dalhousie University, she holds a degree in English and Theatre. Her debut novel Under This Unbroken Sky (2009) was published by Penguin Canada, Harper Collins US, and Weidenfeld & Nicholson UK, with translations in Chinese, Hebrew, Dutch, and Italian. Her next novel, The Waiting Hours, will be published in Spring 2019.

Lesley Crewe

Lesley grew up in Montreal, graduated from Concordia University and settled down with her hubby in Homeville, Cape Breton and raised a family. From 2000-2005, Lesley was a features writer and columnist for Cape Bretoner Magazine, and from 2005-2009, a columnist with the on-line magazine, Cahoots. In 2005 her first novel, Relative Happiness, was published by Vagrant Press. It was and instant bestseller, and was shortlisted for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. She has since written nine other novels.

Craig Davidson

Craig Davidson was born in Toronto, raised in Calgary and St. Catharines. Davidson attended both Trent University and the University of New Brunswick. He has published work under both his own name and the pen names Patrick Lestewka and Nick Cutter. His 2013 novel Cataract City was named as a shortlisted nominee for the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize. His 2018 novel The Saturday Night Ghost Club was a shortlisted finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

Walking Tour with Ashlee Feener

Formerly a research librarian, Ashlee moonlighted as a part-time guide with Lunenburg Walking Tours. Preferring to be a living part of the history, rather than hiding behind-the-scenes with her nose in a book, she co-founded Travel Lunenburg Ltd. in 2014 . She loves sauerkraut, is fascinated with the folklore of Lunenburg County, and is superstitious without even meaning to be.

Niki Jabbour

Niki Jabbour is an author and edibles expert from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who believes that a long Canadian winter shouldn't mean an end to the homegrown harvest. Her first book, The Year Round Vegetable Gardener, was honored with the 2012 American Horticultural Society's Book Award, and Groundbreaking Food Gardens: 73 Plans That Will Change the Way You Grow Your Garden opens your eyes to an infinite number of tasty possibilities. Niki's work is also found in Fine Gardening, Garden Making, The Heirloom Gardener and Birds & Blooms magazines, and Horticulture magazine.

Gerry Hallowell

Michael Crummey

Michael Crummey has published ten books of poetry and fiction. His first novel, River Thieves, was a finalist for the Giller Prize and won the Winterset Award. Galore won the Canadian Authors' Association fiction prize and the Commonwealth Prize (Canada & Caribbean Region). Sweetland was a national bestseller and a finalist for the Governor-General's Award. Little Dogs: New and Selected Poems was published by House of Anansi in the spring of 2016. He lives in St. John's.

Janet Barkhouse

Amy Spurway

Amy was born and raised on Cape Breton Island, where, at the age of eleven, she landed her first writing and performing gigs with CBC Radio. Amy attended both the University of New Brunswick, and Ryerson University. She has worked as a freelance writer, communications consultant, editor, and performer. Her work has appeared in Today's Parent, the Toronto Star, Babble, and Elephant Journal, as well as in the realms of advertising, marketing, non-profit and corporate communications, education, health, and politics. Amy lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with her husband Matthew, and their three daughters.