“Alistair MacLeod was the most deeply satisfied person I ever met,” writes Alexander MacLeod of his father, “and every day I miss his quiet presence in my life, his unhurried walk, his slow breathing, his certainty.” Anne Murray says this of her father who was a doctor in Springhill: “He was there to save lives and that’s what he did.” Author Carol Bruneau confesses that her father would “throttle” her for writing an essay about him because “he hated sentimentality.” Sheldon Currie’s father was “a tolerant man” but “what he could never tolerate was the empty promises of politicians or the greed, hypocrisy, parsimony, and callous disregard for coal mine safety of the coal mines’ owners.”

In this poignant, often funny, and heartfelt collection, Nova Scotia authors and artists put to the page their thoughts and emotions about their fathers, who raised, inspired, loved, and taught them – and occasionally drove them crazy. As well as MacLeod, Currie, Bruneau, and Murray, The Nova Scotia Book of Fathers includes stories by Harry Thurston, Lorrie Neilsen Glenn, Frank Cameron, Joan Baxter, Jon Tattrie, Bruce Graham, Lesley Choyce, Lenore Zann, David Mossman, Janice Landry, Lindsay Ruck, Ian Colford, Julia Swan, Craig Flinn, and Daniel Paul.

From these varied writers comes a myriad of stories about dads of all kinds: quiet, thoughtful, wise men; stubborn and headstrong men; and men whose careers and circumstances called forth public bravery and heroism. Included too are fathers whose mark on the world is more private but just as compelling, just as fearless, just as noteworthy. They are our mentors, sometimes our friends, but always our fathers – always “Dad.” They embody for us the strength everyone needs to weather the storms of life, the humour that helps us to laugh at crucial moments, and the stalwart vision it takes to raise daughters and sons and send them out into the world. Sometimes they didn’t do it perfectly, but they are fathers, not gods. They left their marks on their families and their communities. Here are the fathers of Nova Scotia, revealed to us by the people who love them most: their children.

No one has a clearer view of Atlantic Canada's literary endeavours over the past twenty years than Lesley Choyce. He is the founder of the literary journal Pottersfield Portfolio, and the publisher of Pottersfield Press. He has edited several fiction anthologies and has been the in-house editor of many books from Pottersfield Press including Making Waves, a collection of stories by emerging authors from Atlantic Canada. He is the author of more than fifty books in genres ranging from poetry and essays to autobiography, history and fiction for adults, young adults, and children. Among his recent books are the novels The Republic of Nothing, World Enough, and Cold Clear Morning, and the story collection Dance the Rocks Ashore. Choyce is the writer, host, and co-producer of the popular literary show television program, Off the Page with Lesley Choyce, which is broadcast across the country on Vision TV. He also teaches in the English department of Dalhousie University in Halifax and is leader of the rock band The Surf Poets.

Lesley Choyce's profile page

Julia Swan holds a PhD from Dalhousie University and is an editor with PottersfieldPress. She co-edited The Mi’Kmaq Anthology Volume 2 with Lesley Choyce and Theresa Meuse.

Julia Swan's profile page