Steven Laffoley | |
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| Born | 5 October 1965 Taunton, Massachusetts, United States |
| Occupation | Author |
| Genre | Narrative Non-Fiction; Fiction |
| Notable awards | Evelyn Richardson Memorial Non-Fiction Award (2013) |
Steven Laffoley (born 5 October 1965) is a Canadia author of creative nonfiction and fiction and educator.
Steven Laffoley an award-winning author of fiction and creative-nonfiction. His Hunting Halifax was shortlisted for the 2008 Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Choice Award and the 2008 Evelyn Richardson Memorial Non-Fiction Award. [1] Both The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea and Shadowboxing topped the Nova Scotia Bestsellers List, [2] with the former being shortlisted for the 2012 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Nonfiction [3] and the latter winning the 2013 Evelyn Richardson Nonfiction Award. [4] His novel, The Blue Tattoo, also garnered much critical and commercial success. "It’s a big story that everyone should read," noted the Atlantic Books Today. "It deepens one’s appreciation for the parts of the city touched by the devastation of Dec. 6, 1917." [5]
Laffoley has been lauded for his signature cinematic retelling of historical events by interweaving himself into the story as a writer/detective character. Critic Thomas Hodd from the Telegraph-Journal wrote that Laffoley injects “first person, post-modern narrative as he recounts his investigative process and offers reflections on the facts as they reveal themselves.” [6] Another critic from The Coast applauded him for his mastery in weaving together “the main story” and "contemporaneous scenes" in his books that make for "intriguing context". [7] Laffoley often chooses stories lesser known to the public, predominantly Canadian in subject, and almost always set around the turn of the 20th century. When asked about the inspiration behind his book Shadowboxing, he said he was fascinated with the fact that George Dixon, who seemed so influential in the boxing and wider communities of Canada and the United States, had not yet had a biography written. [8] According to a review by fellow writer Jenna Conter, Laffoley is the "Stephen King of Halifax" [9] because his unique writing style gives his works a cinematic quality, both vivid and imaginative.
Laffoley was born in Taunton, Massachusetts and raised in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He is of English, Irish, Scandinavian, and Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Laffoley was educated at Saint Mary's University. He moved to Canada in 1982 and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has been a lecturer at Saint Mary's University (Halifax) and a teacher in Wildflecken, Germany, Sachigo Lake First Nation, and King's-Edgehill School. For nineteen years, he was the Head of Middle School at the Halifax Grammar School, a position he held since establishing the middle school in September 1997. [10] In July 2016, he was appointed the thirteenth Head of School of the Halifax Grammar School. [11]
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Nova Scotia is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
George Elliott Clarke, is a Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015, and as the 2016–2017 Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. His work is known largely for its use of a vast range of literary and artistic traditions, its lush physicality and its bold political substance. One of Canada's most illustrious poets, Clarke is also known for chronicling the experience and history of the Black Canadian communities of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, creating a cultural geography that he has coined "Africadia".
George Dixon was a Canadian professional boxer. After winning the bantamweight title in 1892, he became the first ever black athlete to win a world championship in any sport; he was also the first Canadian-born boxing champion. Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer ranked Dixon as the #1 featherweight of all-time. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1956 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a first-class inductee in 1990. In 2018 he was named one of the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotia's history, ranking sixth.
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2022, it is estimated that the population of the Halifax CMA was 480,582, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.
The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award is a Canadian literary award administered by the Atlantic Book Awards & Festival for the best work of adult fiction published in the previous year by a writer from the Atlantic provinces. The prize honours Thomas Head Raddall and is supported by an endowment he willed to it. The award is currently worth $25,000.
The Halifax Grammar School (HGS) is a private, educational day school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located in south-end Halifax, near Saint Mary's University. Approximately 600 students attend the school, making it the largest independent school in Atlantic Canada. At the high school level students take the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program. The Head of School is Steven Laffoley. All prospective students get tested every year for their own learning paths. The school offers merit-based scholarships in academics, community service, and athletics. The school is the leading school in Atlantic Canada
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The J.M. Abraham Poetry Award, formerly known as the Atlantic Poetry Prize, is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Atlantic Book Awards & Festival, to the best work of poetry published by a writer from the Atlantic provinces.
The Evelyn Richardson Memorial Non-Fiction Award is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Atlantic Book Awards & Festival, to the best work of adult non-fiction published in the previous year by a writer from Atlantic Canada. It is the oldest literary award in the region and is considered the most prestigious for a work of non-fiction. The award was named to honour Evelyn M. Richardson.
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Evelyn M. Richardson, born Evelyn May Fox (1902–1976) was a Canadian writer who won the Governor General's Award in non-fiction for her 1945 memoir, We Keep a Light. The annual Evelyn Richardson Memorial Literary Award is given in her honour to a Nova Scotia writer of non-fiction.
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Stephen Edward Kimber is a Canadian journalist, editor and broadcaster and instructor at the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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