Packing a punch with their local festivals, the writing scene in Nova Scotia is lit! Now to get yourself more involved with it. Content here seems to focus a lot more specifically on Canadian topics, and the family-friendly options are interesting. Here are the writing festivals in Nova Scotia (NS) you need to know about and attend.
9+ writers festivals in NS
*in alphabetical order*
AfterWords Literary Festival
Website: https://afterwordsliteraryfestival.com/
Where: Halifax
When: November 1-9, 2025
What can I expect? A sustainable festival that offers year-round programming, and also has ties to literary communities beyond Halifax. AfterWords focuses on creative expression and inspiring people to read–including children! You’ll meet up with passionate writers and storytellers while attending sessions, poetry readings, and more.
Booktoberfest
Website: https://writers.ns.ca/programs/booktoberfest/
Where: Halifax
When: October 11, 2025
What can I expect? Media of all kinds come to Booktoberfest in Halifax each year. It’s a place where writers can collaborate, even doing creative writing workshops and featured readings sessions. Collaboration and celebration are the names of the game here at this one-day event. There will be vendors at this location as well.
Cabot Trail Writers Festival
Website: https://www.cabottrailwritersfestival.com/
Where: St. Ann’s
When: October 3-5, 2025
What can I expect? A festival focused on inspiring writers of all ilks, Cabot Trail Writers Festival even offers a Friday night reading series to get more attendees engaged with each other. Programming is designed to improve writing craft, and you can expect to see sessions that inspire and share expertise. You’ll also have the chance to share your work with other writers.
Dartmouth Comic Arts Festival
Website: https://dcaf.strangeadventures.com/
Where: Dartmouth
When: August 9 + 10, 2025
What can I expect? This is a FREE event for comic and cartoon lovers. There is a ton of art work, of course, as well as panels and other sessions on writing improvement, literary trends, marketing, and more. Connect with others in your niche during this event and build up your network!
Funny Pages Festival
Website: https://www.funnypages.ca/
Where: Halifax
When: April 25, 2025
What can I expect? A festival focused entirely on what literature made kids laugh in the last year. It’s a fun, uplifting event that helps authors connect with preschoolers and young readers. Presentations are geared towards the younger crowd, and hosted by established children’s book authors.
Hal-Con
Website: https://hal-con.com/
Where: Halifax
When: November 7-9, 2025
What can I expect? A classic sci-fi and fantasy convention where you can meet authors, readers, and more. Express yourself while taking part in author sessions and other interesting programming. Learn about the industry and have a blast to boot!
Lunenburg Literary Festival
Website: https://www.lunenburglitfestival.ca/
Where: Lunenburg
When: November 6-8, 2025
What can I expect? This festival focuses on Canadian literature and highlights Canadian authors. There are panels and readings, as well as opportunities to showcase and increase your skills as a writer. Additionally, there is content for children to enjoy!
Port Medway Readers’ Festival
Website: https://portmedwayreadersfestival.com/
Where: Port Medway
When: July and August
What can I expect? A series of readings from famous and insightful authors, networking, great readings, and a delightful selection of food and drinks will fill your weekends in July and August if you attend this festival. Meant to connect and entertain writers, this festival is an excellent way to partake in the writing community in Nova Scotia.
Read by the Sea
Website: https://readbythesea.ca/
Where: Pictou
When: June 20 + 21
What can I expect? An interesting festival with several fun word games for all ages, author readings, and information sessions. The focus on Canadian content is thoughtful and engaging. Plus, you can submit your manuscript to be read by a panel that provides feedback. Pretty cool!
Is it writers festival or writer’s festival or writers’ festival?
Ah, an editorial note. Surprise! (Borrowed from my OG article on this for BC.)
What’s correct, writers festival or writer’s festival or writers’ festival? You’re going to love the answer. It depends! It depends on your preference, and what way you wish to stress the phrase. Is it a group of writers getting together, a festival for writers, a festival by writers, something all of the above? And since it comes down to usage, really, I took a look at Google Ngrams to see which form took precedence.
Writers festival is seeing a strong uptick in recent years, which is no surprise when you consider the wider linguistic trend of “less-is-more” punctuation. For example, CMOS recently changed the rule for a comma before the word “too” (such as used above in this very article). That said, writers’ festival still outshines the other two spellings. As such, I’ll provide one more argument to why writers festival is gaining traction and is perhaps the more correct usage these days: Merriam-Webster’s entry for farmers market. It is the preferred spelling for the event, over farmer’s market and farmers’ market.
Which do you use?
Right Your Writing 