How Sad!

On February 23, 2026, the Provincial PC Government of Nova Scotia cut financial support for the Publisher Assistance Program as well as for other community arts, culture and heritage organizations across this province. As an independently published author, this decision doesn’t affect me personally. But it does affect many of my friends!

Unable to attend any of the protest rallies for health reasons, I gathered together the picture books, middle grade novels, and young adult novels by Nova Scotian authors I’d acquired over many years of attending book launches. The dedication of local publishers Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press, Formac Publishing Company, and other traditional publishers from coast to coast to coast, made it possible for these children’s books to be shared with readers across Canada and around the world. Several of the ones shown above have been nominated for, or have received provincial, national and international awards.

Many years have passed since I was hired to fill a split position between Cataloguing and Reference in the Patrick Power Library at Saint Mary’s University. With new staff to train, Douglas Vaisey, the Head of Reference, arranged for us to tour the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and the Nova Scotia Legislative Library. I enjoyed Doug’s tour very much, especially since he brought to my attention two rare books by my great-grandfather, A.W. Savary, M.A. The first, a six-hundred-and-sixty-page History of the County of Annapolis, including old Port Royal and Acadia….by the late W.A. Calnek, was edited and compiled by him. (Toronto and London: William Briggs, 1897) and the second, Supplement to the History of the County of Annapolis, correcting and supplying omissions in the previous volume by A.W. Savary, QC (Toronto: William Briggs, 1913.)

I only learned recently that my great-grandfather was also one of the key instigators of the conservation and reconstruction project at Fort Anne, a much-loved National Heritage Site that continues to draw tourists from around the world to the beautiful town of Annapolis Royal. If he were alive today, as someone who had devoted much of his life to researching and writing books about Nova Scotia’s history—as well as representing the riding of Digby in the first parliament of Canada (1867-1874)—would he approve of the Premier’s budget cuts to the Arts, Culture and Heritage sectors of our economy? I very much doubt it! He would be turning over in his grave.