Gather ’Round for an intimate evening of wintery entertainment. Special guests from the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia’s Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program will open the evening with short readings, followed by celebrated actor, director, and novelist Shelley Thompson, who will perform stories from her new story collection, Winter Sky, accompanied by an original score from the Blue Engine String Quartet.
It all happens at The Carleton on Tuesday, November 18th at 7 PM. Tickets are $30 + HST with sales going to support the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program.
The Blue Engine String Quartet was formed in 1997 as the core ensemble of the Nova Scotia chamber music series, Blue Engine Music. The Quartet are all members of Symphony Nova Scotia. Blue Engine holds true to classical roots, performing many of the masterworks of the string quartet repertoire, is frequently broadcast on CBC Radio, and was featured, along with four distinguished guest singers in “Quartet Plus Four at Christmas”, a New Scotland Productions Christmas Special for Vision TV and CBC. The Quartet are frequently featured as guest artists on recordings by the likes of Jill Barber, Meaghan Smith, Mary Jane Lamond, Heavy Blinkers, Chucky Danger, and Jenn Grant.
Writer, director, and activist Shelley Thompson is based in Wolfville, Mi’kma’ki. Thompson’s first directorial feature (Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor, 2021) screened internationally and won the 2022 Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award. A multiple ACTRA award-winner, Thompson continues to work on stage and screen while building her writing, directing, and producing credits. Her first documentary series, Translations, aired in 2025. She is the creator of THE DAWN FUND, which supports trans futures in Atlantic Canada. Winter Sky is Thompson’s second book. Her debut novel, Roar, was nominated for the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award and the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.
For twenty-five years, the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program has supported the development of emerging writers in Nova Scotia who are on the cusp of professional publication and who are committed to their writing and creative development. It is a disciplined, focused, and supportive one-on-one apprenticeship program through which writers expand and hone their craft.
Through this program, which helps emerging writers overcome barriers to their growth and development, WFNS pairs professional authors with emerging writers. It welcomes writers from across Nova Scotia — with projects in all genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and writing for children or young adults.