November 7 – 9, 2024

Chad Lucas has been in love with words since he attempted his first novel on a typewriter in the sixth grade. He has worked as a newspaper reporter, communications advisor, freelance writer, part-time journalism instructor, and parenting columnist.

YOU OWE ME ONE, UNIVERSE, a sequel to Chad’s debut, released in November 2023 and has been named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. His fourth book, THE VANISHED ONES, will be released in January 2025.

A proud descendant of the historic African Nova Scotian community of Lucasville, Chad lives with his family in Nova Scotia. In his spare time, he enjoys coaching youth basketball, and he’s never far from a cup of tea. Chad is also a musician and played on the 2008 East Coast Music Award-winning album New Beginnings from artist Chelsea Amber.

“Themes of identity, mental health, and responsibility are tenderly and expertly addressed through the authentic dialogue and interactions among the friends…Smart and heartfelt.”

—Kirkus

Donna Morris is a Mikmaw woman born and raised at Indian Brook, Sipeknekatik. Graduated with a BA in Anthropology at Saint Mary’s University Halifax NS and pursued Atlantic Canada Studies that led to researching Atlantic and Mikmaw cultural history.

Her childhood teachings and memories of the many legends combined with her academic studies became indispensable in decoding the past and gave insight into the ever changing landscape on which we live.

Unravelling the past through artifacts, legends and history created opportunities for a space in large archaeological projects.

Donna was also a Mikmaw cultural interpretor at Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site for twenty years and was responsible for developing and facilitating programs on history, culture, preservation and conservation. She also was involved in films for the park, “Journey into the Night Sky” within the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere, “Land and Sea” and “Far and Wide”.

Stephen Maher has been writing about Canadian politics since 1989. As a columnist and investigative reporter for Postmedia News, iPolitics, and Maclean’s, he has often set the agenda on Parliament Hill, covering political corruption, electoral wrongdoing, misinformation, and human rights abuses. He has also won many awards, including the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, the Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism, the National Newspaper Award, two Canadian Association of Journalism Awards, a Canadian Hillman Prize, and has been nominated for several National Magazine Awards.

“Maher delivers a full-length treatment of the Prime Minister and his government that is both comprehensive and insightful . . . Stephen Maher has delivered a thoroughly researched and fair-minded accounting of Justin Trudeau’s accomplishments and failings. If journalism is the first draft of history, The Prince is a convincing second draft.”

-The Globe and Mail

Shari Lapena is the #1 internationally bestselling author of eight suspense novels including The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, Someone We Know, The End of Her, Not a Happy Family, Everyone Here is Lying, and What Have You Done?

A former lawyer and English teacher, Shari now writes full time from a farm in Ontario, where she lives with her husband.

Her first thriller, The Couple Next Door, was a runaway global bestseller, selling 4 million copies worldwide. It was WHSmith’s “Book of the Year” in 2016 and the #1 Adult Fiction Title in the UK for 2017. All of Shari’s novels have been New York Times, UK Sunday Times, and Globe and Mail bestsellers. Three of her books have been Richard & Judy Book Club Picks. Her books have sold into forty territories around the world and have been optioned for film and TV.

She doesn’t want you to be able to put her books down.

“Captivating… What begins as a straightforward mystery gradually blooms into a portrait of a community coming apart at the seams. While the secrets-of-a-small-town themes aren’t exactly novel, Lapena’s richly drawn characters and gift for suspense give them new life. It’s gripping stuff.”

—Publishers Weekly

C.S. Porter is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker who lives near the sea and has passed on that love, fear and awe to Detective Kes Morris. His debut novel, Beneath Her Skin, won the Crime Writers of Canada-Howard Engel Award. The next in the series, Salt on Her Tongue, is slated for publication by Vagrant Press (Nimbus) in 2025.

“A truly compelling mystery about a series of grisly murders in a lovely east coast town. The writing is superb, the novel tightly plotted. The reader is swept along by the expert pacing and mounting suspense as the bodies pile up and suspects emerge from the shadows. Detective Kes Morris becomes conflicted as she closes in on the killers, and we understand why, when she finds evidence of unspeakable events in the town’s past. Porter has created an authentic, fully-realized character in Detective Morris, and we’ll want to hear from her again.”

— Anne Emery, Arthur Ellis Award–winning author of Though the Heavens Fall

Tom Ryan is an award-winning author, screenwriter and producer. His books have been Junior Library Guild and ALA Rainbow List selections, and have been included on several best-of-year lists. He was a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction. His 2019 release Keep This to Yourself was the recipient of the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award, the 2020 ITW Thriller Award, and the 2021 Ann Connor Brimer Award, and was nominated for the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award and the John Spray Mystery Award. It was also chosen by the Globe & Mail as one of the ‘Globe 100: Books that shaped 2019’ and is currently being adapted for television. His young adult mystery I Hope You’re Listening was the recipient of the 2021 Lambda Award for Best LGBTQ Mystery. Tom, his husband, and their dog live in Nova Scotia.

“Ryan’s masterful interweaving of multiple storylines, surprising plot twists, and often eccentric characters makes for a novel that is as enjoyable as it is suspenseful. An edge-of-your seat, page-turning delight.”

— Kirkus Reviews