Formal Education:
- BA, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario (formerly Waterloo Lutheran University) Major: English Literature; Minor: Psychology
- Canadian University Services Overseas: CUSO teacher training and orientation program, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia. (Ten additional days of study were led by a number of well-known Caribbean authors, actors and artists on the campuses of the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica and in Port of Spain, Trinidad.)
Audited Courses:
- “Children’s Literature and Media Interests” (MLIS Program, Dalhousie University School of Library and Information Studies, Halifax, N.S.)
- “A History of Children’s Literature, 19th Century” (Saint Mary’s University Extension Services)
Fee-based Courses and Workshops:
- “Writing for Children and Young Adults” (Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia; Course Instructor: Vicki Grant)
- One-Day Workshops sponsored by the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia: Leaders have included: Kathy Lowinger, Barbara Greenwood, Deborah Ellis, Marthe Jocelyn, Frieda Wishinsky
- Attended lectures presented over the course of a month by the late children’s and YA author Mollie Hunter while she was Writer-In-Residence at Dalhousie University’s School of Information and Library Sciences
Recent Activity:
- Attended webinars sponsored by The Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) These included Taking Back the Business sessions via Zoom held between 2020 and spring 2023; attended selected public webinars offered by The Writer’s Union of Canada (TWUC) ; attended monthly online meetings of the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers CANSCAIP) (The pandemic of Covid-19 moved all these sessions online, opening up opportunities for writers across Canada to attend.)
Other:
- Honourable Mention for YA Novel, All Shook Up (32nd annual Atlantic Writing Competition)
- 3rd Place, YA Novel, The Tale of the Tenth Planet (11th annual Atlantic Writing Competition)
- Honourable Mentions for Book I of En Route to Orbus (Novel), and for The Tenth Planet. The latter was a short story submitted to the Writing for Children Category of the above competition, which I later expanded into the YA novel mentioned in bullet #3 above.
- Prince Nicolai and the Empty Box storybook text longlisted in the 2018 Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP) “Writing for Children Competition” (500 entrants)
- Prince Nicolai and the Empty Box longlisted from among close to nine hundred entries submitted to a TWUC sponsored “Writing for Children Competition.” (874 entrants)
- I was short-listed from among fifty-five applicants for the WFNS Mentorship Program in 2007
Employment History:
- 1980-1998; 1975-1977: Patrick Power Library, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
- 1967-1969: Teacher of English Language and Literature in Guyana and Jamaica under the auspices of Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO)
Memberships:
- Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia
- Associate Member of CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers)
M.E. Pilkey (Peggy) 